Driver Restore. How to remove? (Uninstall guide)
Reasons why Driver Restore can't be considered trustworthy software
Driver Restore (developed by 383 Media Inc.) is a potentially unwanted program (PUP) that displays annoying alerts suggesting to update drivers. The software seeks to trick users into buying its full version despite the system's status, which is not a tolerable activity.
Drivers can be updated without such potentially unwanted programs, so if this program entered your computer system without your knowledge and started to demand payment, remove Driver Restore ASAP.
Despite being non-malicious, this program can cause various problems to your PC, make it run slower, perform system scans and deliver altered results just to convince you to buy its full version. Sadly, even the licensed version of this PUP can barely give anything useful in return. Many users have expressed their concerns about this program in various Internet forums already.
This questionable program was developed by a company that is called 383 Media Inc. In fact, this company is responsible for releasing such doubtful programs as System Optimizer Pro and SuperFast PC. As you can imagine, these programs are also labeled as potentially unwanted programs[1].
What is more, 383 Media Inc. is an online marketing company; therefore, Driver Restore may hijack your browser, change its settings, manipulate your browsing experience, display annoying ads and try to redirect you to affiliate websites.
Although Driver Restore application is promoted as a useful tool for your computer, that should help you update and if needed, restore your drivers, please do not fall for such cheap trick and do not install this program.
Although this program presents says that you can check your PC for free, to use all the features that it offers, you will have to buy its 'full' version for $29.95 or $39.95. We highly recommend not to purchase this program as it is unlikely to be a useful tool.
Another issue related to this potentially unwanted application is annoying web advertisements that show up on PC screen from time to time. If you notice strange pop-up ads appearing on your screen or new tabs opening in your browser when you browse the Internet, it indicates that the PC is infected with an adware[2] program.
Adware programs always advertise something, and in this case, they promote Driver Restore PUP. Ads that promote this suspicious program usually come from landing.driverrestore.com site.
Landing.driverrestore.com ads say that this program is a “Highly Recommended Download!”, but if these ads started bothering you, you shouldn't wait any longer and remove Driver Restore software from the system. To find out how to do it, follow instructions provided below.
Click 'Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features' (if you are 'Windows XP' user, click on 'Add/Remove Programs').
If you are 'Windows 10 / Windows 8' user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once 'Quick Access Menu' shows up, select 'Control Panel' and 'Uninstall a Program'.
Right click on each of suspicious entries and select 'Uninstall'
Cick 'Go' and select 'Applications'
Click on every malicious entry and select 'Move to Trash'
Click on menu icon and select 'Manage add-ons'
Right click on each of malicious entries and select 'Disable'
Delete malicious URL, enter your desired domain name and click 'Apply' to save changes
Go to 'Advanced' tab and click on 'Reset' button. Now select 'Delete personal settings' and click on 'Reset' button again
Go to Settings and select 'Choose what to clear'
Select 'Clear' button
Open the start menu and select 'Task Manager'
Right-click 'Microsoft Edge' and select 'Go to details'
Select 'More details' if 'Go to details' option fails to show up
Find Microsoft Edge entries and select 'End Task'
Go to Microsoft Edge folder on your computer, right-click every entry and click 'Delete'
Find Windows PowerShell, right-click it and select 'Run as administrator'
Copy and paste a required command and press 'Enter'
Click on menu icon and select 'Add-ons'
Select 'Extensions' and look for malicious entries. Click 'Remove' to get rid of each of them
Click on menu icon and then on '?'. Select 'Troubleshooting Information'
Click on 'Reset Firefox' button for a couple of times
Click on menu icon. Select 'Tools' and 'Extensions'
Look for malicious entries and delete each of them by clicking on the Trash bin icon
When in 'Settings', select 'Manage search engines...'
Click 'X' to remove malicious URLs
When in 'Settings', scroll down to 'Reset browser settings' button and click on it
Click on 'Reset' button to complete your removal
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Preferences'
Go to 'Extensions' and uninstall malicious add-ons
Click on 'Safari' and select 'Reset Safari...'
Select all options and click on 'Reset' button
Ways to place this potentially unwanted program on your computer
As we have mentioned above, this questionable program is aggressively endorsed as a helpful tool that should help you to manage your drivers. You can easily download this potentially unwanted program from its official website or from various download websites.
However, please do NOT dot that. Moreover, it looks like Driver Restore may travel as an additional attachment together with free programs. Usually, that is how adwares and potentially unwanted programs may travel. After we have researched some information about this untrustworthy application, we came to the conclusion that DriverRestore may also be an adware.
For that reason, you should be very careful and avoid downloading (or buying) unfamiliar and suspicious programs. No matter that these programs may look legitimate, you should conduct a small research and find as much information[3] as possible about your desired programs.
Furthermore, always check what freeware you install. Choose 'advanced' or 'custom' installation option and follow the entire process. Try to spot and opt out of all unfamiliar attachments. As we have mentioned before, Driver Restore or similar potentially unwanted programs may travel in tandem with popular free software.
Q&A
Question. Is Driver Restore a safe program? Should I use it?
Answer. If you want to update your drivers, better stay away from Driver Restore virus. This potentially unwanted program (PUP) can be discovered and removed by the majority of spyware and malware removers, although it belongs to system tools' category.
Question. Driver Restore window keeps popping up. Besides, the annoying program won't uninstall – an error message appears whenever I try to remove it. Can you help me with DriverRestore removal?
Answer.Driver Restore ads can reach you on a daily basis, especially if you installed this potentially unwanted software alongside another free program. The system tool isn't considered malicious; however, its marketing tactics are unacceptable.
You should ignore those ads and uninstall DriverRestore whenever you want. If you are having problems with the removal of the said software, please use the instructions provided below the article.
Remove Driver Restore and forget about annoying ads
The best way to kill this virtual annoyance is to remove Driver Restore from your computer system. We strongly recommend removing this useless program before any further damage is done.
Don't waste your money for nothing and don't buy such dubious programs that can barely give anything useful in return. Follow these simple guidelines and eliminate the useless software from your computer.
- Check your My Documents (user) folder and try to find Driver Restore folder there (it may hide in Downloads folder) and eliminate it from there.
- Perform Driver Restore removal using the instructions provided below.
You can remove virus damage automatically with a help of one of these programs: Reimage, Malwarebytes MalwarebytesCombo Cleaner, Plumbytes Anti-MalwareMalwarebytes Malwarebytes. We recommend these applications because they detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.
To remove Driver Restore, follow these steps:
Uninstall Driver Restore from Windows systems
- Launch Windows Task Manager by clicking a combination of buttons: Control +Alt + Delete. Go to Processes tab. Here, find processes related to the suspicious program and end them.
- Go to Control Panel, and try to find programs that might be titled as Driver Restore or Driver Restore 383 Media Inc. Remove them.
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Click Start → Control Panel → Programs and Features (if you are Windows XP user, click on Add/Remove Programs).
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If you are Windows 10 / Windows 8 user, then right-click in the lower left corner of the screen. Once Quick Access Menu shows up, select Control Panel and Uninstall a Program.
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Uninstall Driver Restore and related programs
Here, look for Driver Restore or any other recently installed suspicious programs. -
Uninstall them and click OK to save these changes.
Get rid of Driver Restore from Mac OS X system
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If you are using OS X, click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications.
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Wait until you see Applications folder and look for Driver Restore or any other suspicious programs on it. Now right click on every of such entries and select Move to Trash.
Erase Driver Restore from Internet Explorer (IE)
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Remove dangerous add-ons
Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top right corner of the browser and choose Manage Add-ons. -
You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for Driver Restore and other suspicious plugins. Disable these entries by clicking Disable:
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Change your homepage if it was altered by virus:
Click on the gear icon (menu) on the top right corner of the browser and select Internet Options. Stay in General tab. -
Here, remove malicious URL and enter preferable domain name. Click Apply to save changes.
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Reset Internet Explorer
Click on the gear icon (menu) again and select Internet options. Go to Advanced tab. - Here, select Reset.
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When in the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset again to complete Driver Restore removal.
Eliminate Driver Restore from Microsoft Edge
Reset Microsoft Edge settings (Method 1):
- Launch Microsoft Edge app and click More (three dots at the top right corner of the screen).
- Click Settings to open more options.
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Once Settings window shows up, click Choose what to clear button under Clear browsing data option.
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Here, select all what you want to remove and click Clear.
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Now you should right-click on the Start button (Windows logo). Here, select Task Manager.
- When in Processes tab, search for Microsoft Edge.
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Right-click on it and choose Go to details option. If can’t see Go to details option, click More details and repeat previous steps.
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When Details tab shows up, find every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right click on each of them and select End Task to end these entries.
Resetting Microsoft Edge browser (Method 2):
If Method 1 failed to help you, you need to use an advanced Edge reset method.
- Note: you need to backup your data before using this method.
- Find this folder on your computer:
C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe. -
Select every entry which is saved on it and right click with your mouse. Then Delete option.
- Click the Start button (Windows logo) and type in window power in Search my stuff line.
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Right-click the Windows PowerShell entry and choose Run as administrator.
- Once Administrator: Windows PowerShell window shows up, paste this command line after PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> and press Enter:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers -Name Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml -Verbose}
Once these steps are finished, Driver Restore should be removed from your Microsoft Edge browser.
WindowsMac OS XInternet ExplorerMicrosoft EdgeFirefoxGoogle ChromeSafariRemove Driver Restore from Mozilla Firefox (FF)
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Mozilla Firefox, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Add-ons → Extensions. -
Here, select Driver Restore and other questionable plugins. Click Remove to delete these entries.
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Reset Mozilla Firefox
Click on the Firefox menu on the top left and click on the question mark. Here, choose Troubleshooting Information. -
Now you will see Reset Firefox to its default state message with Reset Firefox button. Click this button for several times and complete Driver Restore removal.
Delete Driver Restore from Google Chrome
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Delete malicious plugins
Open Google Chrome, click on the menu icon (top right corner) and select Tools → Extensions. -
Here, select Driver Restore and other malicious plugins and select trash icon to delete these entries.
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Click on menu icon again and choose Settings → Manage Search engines under the Search section.
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When in Search Engines..., remove malicious search sites. You should leave only Google or your preferred domain name.
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Reset Google Chrome
Click on menu icon on the top right of your Google Chrome and select Settings. -
Scroll down to the end of the page and click on Reset browser settings.
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Click Reset to confirm this action and complete Driver Restore removal.
Uninstall Driver Restore from Safari
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Remove dangerous extensions
Open Safari web browser and click on Safari in menu at the top left of the screen. Once you do this, select Preferences. -
Here, select Extensions and look for Driver Restore or other suspicious entries. Click on the Uninstall button to get rid each of them.
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Reset Safari
Open Safari browser and click on Safari in menu section at the top left of the screen. Here, select Reset Safari.... -
Now you will see a detailed dialog window filled with reset options. All of those options are usually checked, but you can specify which of them you want to reset. Click the Reset button to complete Driver Restore removal process.
About the author
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References
- ^ Wendy Zamora. How to avoid potentially unwanted programs. Malwarebytes Labs. The Security Blog .
- ^ Adware. Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia.
- ^ NoVirus. NoVirus. Security and Spyware News.