What is Find My Route Extension? And how does it function?
Find My Route Extension is a browser extension that allegedly helps users in finding routes over the web by providing quick links to Google Maps and Bing Maps. Aside from that, it also provides quick links to other sites like the local weather, news, Amazon, Facebook YouTube, Gmail, and many more. It may appear like a legitimate application but don’t let its plain interface fool you for it’s actually a browser hijacker and a potentially unwanted program that could apply unwanted changes into your browser and computer.
Upon installation, Find My Route Extension could also install add-ons, other dubious browser extensions, and toolbars in your browser. Because of this, you might experience constant redirects to unknown websites that you know nothing about. Such a trait is common on browser hijackers like Find My Route Extension. Aside from that, it also tracks and monitors your browsing activities in order to obtain your browsing-related information such as your search queries, browser type, source of traffic acquisition, IP address, browsing history, websites you visit frequently, and many more.
The harvested data is used by crooks to produce more browsing-related content. What’s more, is that the collected data might also be shared with its affiliated websites. This clearly shows that Find My Route Extension is not safe to use and is definitely a threat to your privacy. Moreover, it also has a tendency to deliver your ads like pop-ups, banners, in-text links. Some of which could redirect you to harmful websites that could potentially harm your computer.
How is Find My Route Extension distributed over the web?
Find My Route Extension is distributed using the software bundling technique. This technique is commonly used by developers of unwanted programs as it allows them to sneakily install their programs without any permission from users. Find My Route Extension is added as one of the extra components in a software bundle and will end up getting installed in your computer along with other unwanted programs if you don’t use the recommended Custom or Advanced installation setting.
You can erase Find My Route Extension from your browser and computer using the removal instructions provided below as well as the advanced steps that follow.
Step_1: First, you have to close the browser infected with the browser hijacker. And if you can’t close it manually, you can close it using the Task Manager instead. Tap the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys and open the Task Manager.
Step_2: Next, look for the process of your browser, right-click on it and select End task or End process to close it.
Step_3: Afterwards, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “appwiz.cpl” in the field and press Enter to open the Programs and Features in Control Panel.
Step_4: From the list of programs installed, look for any programs that could be related to Find My Route Extension or any suspicious program you don’t remember installing under the list of installed programs, and once you’ve found it, uninstall it.
Step_5: Edit your Hosts File.
- Tap the Win + R keys to open then type in %WinDir% and then click OK.
- Go to System32/drivers/etc.
- Open the hosts file using Notepad.
- Delete all the entries that contain Find My Route Extension.
- After that, save the changes you’ve made and close the file.
Step_6: Now you have to flush the DNS cache of your computer. To do so, right-click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator). From there, type the “ipconfig /flushdns” command and hit Enter to flush the DNS.
Step_7: Next, hold down Windows + E keys simultaneously to open File Explorer.
Step_8: Navigate to the following directories and look for suspicious files associated with the browser hijacker such as the software bundle it came with and delete it/them.
- %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
- %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
- %TEMP%
Step_9: Close the File Explorer and empty the contents of Recycle Bin.
Step_10: After that, restart your computer and then open your browsers and reset them back to their default state.
Google Chrome
- Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
- After that, click on Settings.
- Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
- After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
- Now restart Google Chrome.
Mozilla Firefox
- Open Mozilla Firefox and tap Ctrl + Shift + A to access the Add-ons Manager.
- In the Extensions menu Remove the unwanted extension.
- Restart the browser and tap keys Alt + T.
- Select Options and then move to the General menu.
- Overwrite the URL in the Home Page section and then restart the browser.
Internet Explorer
- Launch Internet Explorer.
- Next, click the wrench icon for Settings.
- Then click Internet Options.
- After that, go to the Advanced tab.
- From there, click the Reset button. This will reset Internet Explorer’s settings to their default condition.
- Now click OK to save the changes made.
- Restart your computer.
Congratulations, you have just removed Find My Route Extension in Windows 10 all by yourself. If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit fixmypcfree.com daily.
Now that’s how you remove Find My Route Extension in Windows 10 on a computer. On the other hand, if your computer is going through some system-related issues that have to get fixed, there is a one-click solution known as Restoro you could check out to resolve them.
This program is a useful tool that could repair corrupted registries and optimize your PC’s overall performance. Aside from that, it also cleans out your computer for any junk or corrupted files that help you eliminate any unwanted files from your system. This is basically a solution that’s within your grasp with just a click. It’s easy to use as it is user-friendly. For a complete set of instructions in downloading and using it, refer to the steps below
Perform a full system scan using Restoro. To do so, follow the instructions below.
