Has anyone used any of the Freemake programs

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1

Has anyone used any of the Freemake programs, for example "Freemake Video Downloader" ? If so, just wondering what your opinion is.

2

Sorry razz, I've never used any of their products.

3

I have back when they were relatively new a few years ago, they used to be good but now it's an adware minefield so I would completely avoid them.

All of their software runs extremely heavy on a system with high resources which will tax a system and your system fan(s) will be screaming loudly to cool your CPU, even their video downloader has the same results which I don't understand whereas it's sort of understandable for their video converter since that is a system taxing process but still very heavy running programs.

4

they used to be good but now it's an adware minefield so I would completely avoid them.

:o That can't be good, so no Freemake for me!

Actually, the reason I was wondering is I've been trying to figure out an easy way to download videos and music from YouTube. As far as MP3s is concerned, I found an easy option ( http://www.youtube-mp3.org/ ). You just copy the URL into the field and it converts the video to MP3 in about 1 second and then you download, which takes about 3 seconds. Now I just need to find an easy way to download videos.

5

The only non-adware way I know of that works is a Russian software called YouTube Downloader HD. If you use it I recommend that portable ZIP version found here.

Edit:

It's also lightweight, doesn't use much RAM or resources at all and just plain works!

6

It's also lightweight, doesn't use much RAM or resources at all and just plain works!

I just downloaded it, grabbed 2 videos I wanted and it worked great - thanks for the recommendation! :)

7

I tried them with Powershadow running. Makes them easy to get rid of if they are no good.

These are the notes I kept. Sorry, don't remember a thing beyond what I wrote then.

my notes aug 2016

  • phones out at install and startup

  • runs very heavy, about 81% of CPU

  • adds branding to beginning & end of vid ??

  • no options about installation

  • CAREFUL has opencandy ??

  • doesn’t like wmv files

  • CAREFUL, installer has OpenCandy in terms of service agreement

  • outpost warns 3 times about phoneouts

  • CAREFUL Avast pops on “Freemake Audio Converter 1.1.8” the full version ??

my notes dec 2014:

  • CAREFUL, conduit toolbar

8

I just downloaded it, grabbed 2 videos I wanted and it worked great - thanks for the recommendation! :)

I always grab the 720p HD (and rarely the 1080p HD) MP4 extension since the PlayStation 3 which I only use as a video player now plays the videos flawlessly.

9

If you use Avast AV > Avast safe-zone browser has a built in video down-loader extension that works well with youtube video's > (mp4) 720p HD

10

- CAREFUL has opencandy ??

- CAREFUL, installer has OpenCandy in terms of service agreement

- outpost warns 3 times about phoneouts

- CAREFUL Avast pops on "Freemake Audio Converter 1.1.8" the full version ??

- CAREFUL, conduit toolbar

Thanks for the info login. Your notes support Andavari's comment : "it's an adware minefield".

11

I always grab the 720p HD

That's what I grabbed too.

12

If you use Avast AV > Avast safe-zone browser has a built in video down-loader extension that works well with youtube video's > (mp4) 720p HD

Thanks craigathus, good to know if I go back to using Avast in the future.