Home Malware Programs Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) DirectionsAce Toolbar

DirectionsAce Toolbar

Posted: November 19, 2015

Threat Metric

Ranking: 6,519
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 9,300
First Seen: November 15, 2015
Last Seen: October 10, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

DirectionsAce is one of the numerous toolbars by the questionable software developer Mindspark. While the products of this company offer different features, they all may come with the same annoying side effects. Security experts define DirectionsAce and the majority of other toolbars by Mindspark as Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs). The first negative aspect of this application is related to its distribution across the cyberspace. It is true that PC users can download DirectionsAce from its official site, but the PUP also may enter a PC in a set with other freeware. To oppose this questionable method, which the experts call 'bundling,' you need to use the 'Advanced' installation guide and uncheck undesired components manually. DirectionsAce may appear simultaneously in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.

The toolbar contains several buttons that lead to online maps and news sites that monitor the traffic in large cities. These pages are not administered by Mindspark Interactive Network, and you don't need assistance from any software to enter them. This fact means that the benefits of keeping DirectionsAce may be very limited. The mentioned side effects that you may face are related to the commercial materials that the PUP may generate. It may place various pop-ups, banners, in-text ads and animations in the webpages. As another way to increase the popularity of its partner sites, DirectionsAce may manipulate the search results. This advertising activity may get in the way of the efficient functionality of the browsers. Some of the ads may contain multimedia elements, which are known to seize a lot of system resources. As a result, the loading time may increase significantly. Since this PUP is not very useful and may cause inconvenience, you should take measures to delete it.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{035165CA-9629-40B1-A3B8-FA59B5C2687A}{061CAB33-B276-4A80-9FFD-C3276E253FCB}{11D0F503-0B43-4CE5-A401-56FB76B1F805}{218066e9-70b3-4ad6-b5fd-a5487da8f88a}{2ce67452-864e-4917-9abb-7372f50db167}{39A04C3D-A6BA-4F0C-B108-3FF0E2B7B5F2}{4937a103-23b6-44e4-b7a0-d93e4452f530}{49DB9B7B-809D-4F18-A3D9-32B1B9E3C896}{4FFCB672-014D-4967-87FE-4CEB96EC6C07}{5026a824-54e4-492e-8266-0a69fb5f9cba}{5F19F089-D052-4B6E-B6AF-1D7FEB9072AA}{633FCD4F-587F-413A-BC5C-EBCCFAED49F0}{659bf7ee-9512-4856-ab10-b34e0b60ec57}{67AE04CA-3C63-4F7C-B790-705C7A1A1C77}{70EED153-6F3B-4E52-933C-3E61A44E8E68}{78BCC987-9152-4745-B4A4-E3B6C16150C1}{7B5D902D-5473-46C6-8934-48BB903206DD}{7d061e62-d180-46d5-8281-895de2d605ef}{8103cbe9-a5b6-4f83-97f5-2a70b88ea96c}{87410A16-272D-49F9-B2C6-1F135FFBBFEB}{90FA19EF-68B5-4AC6-8A88-08FE411E5DF0}{91072D20-7070-4A06-A339-9A2B1419ED88}{95769488-1ec4-4d05-a0e8-505fd4328652}{9BA65E41-4C1F-4D26-8E93-B226E5B8A1AC}{9D1EF4EA-D0C0-47C5-A068-03015CBA2EBA}{9EA3FF44-CF37-4F5D-AC53-E189D393E054}{A1695AE0-F815-4CD5-BF8E-956115E1755A}{A297C31D-B0C4-4CB6-BDFF-E1D87F30ECF2}{AD2B15E9-6C63-41E9-95C7-062AC6AF2300}{BA3704AF-4A4D-4777-8561-659B83B1D004}{C08DB80F-E9DD-4058-B6DF-60E07397D3B9}{c164618d-23a9-45e1-97ec-7a637be65a95}{c82bbeac-9126-43cf-8784-ffd90b2e714a}{D58500AE-3A87-4B2A-9699-3A20D83D55D8}{D7549559-7E19-4AF2-8BA1-7A61B3508968}{d8a6c236-9aff-41a2-ae4f-32f3a7d9ea9c}{DE1FD936-18C3-4C61-8F4B-1C048D72EAC1}{e839bf2c-5406-4ff3-a477-3d238643232b}{EEBA5E43-0158-4E52-B5F8-AA3FAF3CDE8A}{FF1E3602-5C25-4DA6-8F0E-8C92EFD7FD4B}File name without pathhttp_directionsace.dl.myway.com_0.localstoragehttp_directionsace.dl.myway.com_0.localstorage-journalhttp_directionsace.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstoragehttp_directionsace.dl.tb.ask.com_0.localstorage-journalHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}Software\DirectionsAceSoftware\DirectionsAce_fvSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{218066E9-70B3-4AD6-B5FD-A5487DA8F88A}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{7D061E62-D180-46D5-8281-895DE2D605EF}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Approved Extensions\{8103CBE9-A5B6-4F83-97F5-2A70B88EA96C}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{87f2971c-48a5-432d-92d0-b117d63282c4}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{218066e9-70b3-4ad6-b5fd-a5487da8f88a}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DirectionsAce_fvSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{87f2971c-48a5-432d-92d0-b117d63282c4}SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{218066e9-70b3-4ad6-b5fd-a5487da8f88a}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}DirectionsAce_fvbar Uninstall Internet ExplorerDirectionsAceTooltab Uninstall Internet Explorer

Additional Information

The following directories were created:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\DirectionsAceTooltab%LOCALAPPDATA%\DirectionsAce_fv%PROGRAMFILES%\DirectionsAce_fv%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\DirectionsAce_fv%USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\DirectionsAce_fv
The following URL's were detected:
https://www.directionsquest.co
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