How to remove Your Maps Now (search.yourmapsnow.com)

What is Your Maps Now

Search.yourmapsnow.com or Your Maps Now is misleading browser hijacker, that replaces default search engine and homepage in Safari, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on Windows or Mac. Often, it is accompanied with browser extension or application called “Your Maps Now”. This add-on sneaks in browsers and takes control over main browser settings. Of course, it installs without user permission using the deceptive tactic. After installation, user search queries are redirected to query.yourmapsnow.com and then to search.yahoo.com. This allows the hijacker to collect private browser data and share it with advertising companies. The homepage also changes to Search.yourmapsnow.com and, besides search, provides quick links to main map resources such as Google Maps and Bing Maps. Page looks similar to normal search engine page, and some users don’t even see the difference until they start searching for something. This article contains the most complete instructions to remove Your Maps Now extension and Search.yourmapsnow.com hijacker from all major browsers and operating systems.

How Your Maps Now infected your PC

Search.yourmapsnow.com uses two main methods for distribution. Firstly, it uses aggressive advertising and phishing landing pages, when users search the web for maps, routes, navigation. Secondly, it comes bundled with various free applications, as free addition in installer pack.

If users are not attentive, Your Maps Now gets installed with their acquiescence. Below you will find manual removal instructions and tools, that will remove Search.yourmapsnow.com from your computer automatically.

Remove Your Maps Now manually for free

Here is the manual step-by-step tutorial for full Your Maps Now removal from your computer. This works 99% and was checked with the latest versions of Your Maps Now installer on operating systems with the latest updates and browser versions.

Note: Your Maps Now can be installed as Google Chrome extension as Administrator (you may see Installed by enterprise policy inscription near it), and this will not allow removal. Therefore, before starting removal process, perform these actions:

1. Start the Command Prompt by clicking the Start menu button and typing command prompt (or just searching for “command prompt” in Windows 10 search field). Right click on the Command Prompt result and choose Run as Administrator.



2. Type in and execute the following commands:

   
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicyUsers"
rd /S /Q "%WinDir%\System32\GroupPolicy"
gpupdate /force

Remove Your Maps Now from Control Panel

To start removing Search.yourmapsnow.com you should uninstall it using Control Panel. It can be present by different names – “Search.yourmapsnow.com” or just “Your Maps Now”. It should uninstall correctly, however, we recommend you to use IObit Uninstaller to clean leftover items after uninstalling. Here are instructions for Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Remove Your Maps Now from Mac:

1. In the Finder sidebar, click Applications.
2. Your Maps Now might have an Uninstaller.
3. Otherwise, drag Your Maps Now from the Applications folder to the Trash (located at the end of the Dock).
4. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash.

Remove Your Maps Now from Windows XP:

1. Click on Start button.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Find Your Maps Now.
5. Click Uninstall.

Remove Your Maps Now from Windows 7:

1. Click Start button.
2. Then go to Control Panel.
3. Click Uninstall a Program.
4. Find Your Maps Now and click Uninstall.

Remove Your Maps Now from Windows 8:

1. Hover mouse pointer to the bottom-right corner to see Menu.
2. Click Search.
3. After that click Apps.
4. Then Control Panel.
5. Click Uninstall a Program under Programs.
6. Find Your Maps Now, click Uninstall.

Remove Your Maps Now from Windows 10:

There are 2 ways to uninstall Your Maps Now from Windows 10

Way one

1. Click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Settings.
3. Click on the System tile.
4. Click Apps & features and locate Your Maps Now in the list.
5. Click on it and then click Uninstall button near it.

Way two (classic)

1. Right-click on the Start button.
2. In opened menu choose Programs and Features.
3. Locate Your Maps Now in the list.
4. Click on it and then click Uninstall button above.

Cannot uninstall Your Maps Now

In some cases, Your Maps Now won’t uninstall and gives you the message, that “You do not have sufficient access to uninstall Your Maps Now. Please, contact your system administrator” when you try to remove it from Control Panel or “Access denied” error when removing Your Maps Now folder and files. This happens, because process or service does not allow you to do it. In this case, I will recommend you to use SpyHunter 5 or Malwarebytes or uninstall Your Maps Now in Safe Mode. To boot in Safe Mode do the following:

1. Reboot your computer.
2. While it starts booting press F8 button.
3. This will open Advanced Boot Options menu.
4. Choose Safe Mode and wait until Windows loads.
5. Go to Control Panel > Uninstall a program and remove “Your Maps Now”

>> See detailed instructions and video tutorial on how to boot in Safe Mode

and for Mac:

If you can’t uninstall Your Maps Now using instructions above, or it keeps coming back, you can use free AppCleaner for Mac to remove all residual data and libraries of Your Maps Now. Follow instructions below:

1. Download free AppCleaner.
2. Drag Your Maps Now from Applications folder to AppCleaner window.
3. Choose files and folders you want to remove along with Your Maps Now.
4. Click Delete button.

Remove malicious add-ons from your browsers

Uninstalling Your Maps Now from Control Panel often does not bring desired effect. It sometimes have browser extension and it may still be active in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Here are instructions on how to remove Your Maps Now extension from your browsers manually.

Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Click Extensions tab.
3. Find Your Maps Now extension.
4. Click Uninstall button to remove it.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://extensions/.
3. Find Your Maps Now.
4. Click the trash can icon to remove them.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:addons.
3. Choose Your Maps Now.
4. Click Disable or Remove button.
5. Remove all suspicious extensions from the list.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

Note: There is no feature to remove browser extensions from browser in latest version of Internet Explorer. To remove Search.yourmapsnow.com from Internet Explorer, please, perform instructions for uninstalling program from Control Panel. To disable Your Maps Now, please, do the following:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu Manage Add-ons.
4. Select Toolbars and Extensions.
5. Click Disable Your Maps Now.
6. Also disable other suspicious extensions from the list.

Opera Browser:

Generally, Your Maps Now does not install in Opera browser however you can always double check. Do the following:

1. Start Opera browser.
2. Go to Tools > Extensions > Manage Extensions.
3. Find Your Maps Now extension.
4. Click Uninstall button.
5. Also remove other suspicious extensions from the list.

Reset browsers settings (homepage, default search)

Your Maps Now installs search engine (Search.yourmapsnow.com), that hijacks your browsers. Here is instruction to reset your browsers homepage, newtab and search engine to default values.

Reset Safari:

1. Start Safari on your Mac, click Safari to open drop-down menu and choose Preferences
2. Go to the Privacy section of Safari’s preferences.
3. Click Remove All Website Data button.
4. In opened window click Remove Now button to remove data stored by websites in Safari.
5. Go to the Advanced section of Safari’s preferences.
6. Click the Show Develop menu in menu bar option.
7. In the menu click Develop and select Empty Caches from this menu.
8. Again, go to Safari menu and choose Clear History….
9. Choose to clear all history and click Clear History button.

Google Chrome:

1. Start Google Chrome browser
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) chrome://settings/.
3. Scroll down and find Show advanced settings link.
4. Click on it and scroll down to the bottom again.
5. Click Reset browser settings button and click Reset to confirm.

Mozilla Firefox:

1. Start Mozilla Firefox browser.
2. In address box type (or copy-paste) about:support.
3. Click Reset Firefox… button.
4. Click Reset Firefox to confirm.

Internet Explorer (9, 10, 11):

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click on gear/asterisk icon in the top-right corner.
3. In opened menu choose Internet options.
4. Click Advanced tab.
5. Click Reset button.
6. Choose Delete personal settings and click Reset.

Opera Browser:

1. Close Opera and open command prompt from the start menu.
2. Type following command del %AppData%\Opera\Opera\operaprefs.ini
3. Start Opera.

How to block redirects and pop-ups from Search.yourmapsnow.com

Search.yourmapsnow.com redirects, in most cases, are caused by a program installed on your PC or add-on installed in browsers. However, sometimes it can appear on a clean computer when visiting malicious website, using advertising script. Also, apps that generate “Search.yourmapsnow.com” are themselves installed from pop-ups. To protect your PC and browsers from phishing websites, pop-up ads, banners, malicious scripts it is recommended to use AdGuard. Download free trial here:

Download AdGuard for Windows

Download AdGuard for Mac

Alternative way to remove adware browser extensions and reset browser settings

For safe and effective browser extension removal use avast! Browser Cleanup utility. Run it with administrator privileges and remove all extensions with bad rating including related to Search.yourmapsnow.com. You can also reset your browser settings for each of your browsers: Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox.

Download Avast Browser Cleanup

Cleaning browsers shortcuts

You can clean your browser shortcuts manually right-clicking on your browser icon, choosing “Properties” and removing hijacker address from “Target” field (leave just the path to your browser). However it is easier to use free Shortcut Cleaner from BleepingComputer. Download it here – its FREE:

Download Shortcut Cleaner

Final tips

Be careful surfing the internet and downloading software, as programs like Your Maps Now may become a real headache as they are hard to remove and break your privacy. To keep safe from such threats we recommend you always use antivirus and one of anti-malware programs available on the market. One of the best anti-spyware and anti-malware programs is SpyHunter 5. It can protect your PC from threats, like Search.yourmapsnow.com.