EDRINGTON: Downloading videos from YouTube

Bonnie Rizzuto asked me to explain step by step how to use the tools from FreeMake.com to download a YouTube video. First, it's helpful to understand a little about video formats and what can be done with them.

YouTube will accept videos created as WMV (Windows Media Video), MOV (Apple QuickTime Movie), and FLV (Adobe Flash Video) formats, MPG and MP4 videos, as well as AVI files (which is the format produced by most digital cameras nowadays). FreeMake lets users convert, say, a QuickTime MOV to a WMV file so it can be played on a Windows PC and on most portable music devices.

My favorite FreeMake task is to convert videos of MP3 songs that have had graphics added to turn them into videos back to their original MP3 music status.

Although it originally required two FreeMake programs (a downloader and a converter) to accomplish these tasks, the upgraded FreeMake Downloader performs both tasks seamlessly. Choose a video on YouTube and then highlight the URL (web address line) by right-clicking into it. Then left-click "COPY."

Launch the FreeMake Downloader and left-click "PASTE URL." Finally, left-click "DOWNLOAD" to see a menu of output formats from which to choose.

A word of warning: FreeMake has changed its own download page to include some pre-selected options you do NOT want. Be sure to DE-select the following: "Install the FreeMake Toolbar," "Make the FreeMake web search my home page" and "Make the FreeMake web search my default search engine."

Finally, DO NOT agree to "Help make FreeMake software better by automatically sending anonymous usage statistics to FreeMake." Agreeing to this gives them permission to scan your data and to send you all kinds of ads.

In fairness to Freemake and other software makers, I must point out that I have nothing against a company monetizing its products or services. I would willingly pay a reasonable fee for Freemake's superior performance ---- but I do not appreciate having a "sales-pitch toolbar" stuck on my computer in ways that make it almost impossible to remove.

Regarding the removal of unwanted software, most programs on Windows 7 PCs can be uninstalled by clicking on

Start>Control Panel>Programs & Features. An alphabetical list of most programs on your computer will be shown. Choose the target program and click "Uninstall."

Unfortunately, though, it's possible to have programs (like various "sales-pitch toolbars") sneaked onto your computer and have them NOT appear on this list. However, they can usually be deleted from the Windows Registry.

The Registry is a delicate area usually best handled by a technician. However, doing a System Restore can fix something gone wrong.


