Downloading Videos from YouTube and Other Sites

You have found all these really great videos on YouTube that you want to see again, but you hate going back and having to hunt for them. If you're like most people, you don't spend a lot of time on the Internet trying to learn how to do everything. This will be a little tutorial that can assist you in getting those videos you want to save and send to someone else to enjoy.

First there are a couple of programs you are going to need. The first one is Firefox, this is a popular web browser and is quickly becoming an alternative to Internet Explorer. Firefox can be downloaded at the following link: http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/ . The second program you are going to need is Video Download Helper. This is the program that will be used to actually download your videos. This program can be obtained at this link: http://www.downloadhelper.net/index.php .

The first thing you need to do is download and install Firefox if you are not already using it as your web browser. The process is very simple. If you don't have it then you are probably using Internet Explorer to surf the Internet. Click on this link http://en-us.www.mozilla.com/en-US/ and click on the download button. I recommend saving it to your desktop and you can remove it later once you have Firefox installed. Once you have Firefox downloaded, click on the install icon and follow the instructions.

Now it is time to install Video Download Helper. Open Firefox and navigate to Associated Content and come back to this article. Click on this link http://www.downloadhelper.net/index.php and download Video Download Helper. A unique tool of Firefox is that when you download an add-on to it there is a small window that opens up and you can see the download in progress. Once the download completes the window remains open and you install the new program from there. Video Download Helper is an add-on to Firefox and only works through Firefox. When the download has completed double click on the line in the Downloads Window that says Video Download Helper. This will begin the installation process. Follow the instructions on the screen. Once the installation is completed you will have to restart Firefox. When Firefox reloads you will see a new icon on your toolbar. It looks like three little colored balloons.

Notice that the icon is colored. That means that Video Download Helper is operational and can download videos from the site you are presently visiting. If the icon is gray then Video Download Helper is unable to download videos. There are a few things you need to be aware of before starting. Video Download Helper will install a default folder on your computer, usually in the My Documents Folder. This is the default location that videos are downloaded to. Also, you need to activate the ability to start downloads. Go to Tools>Download Helper>Preferences. A new window with tabs will open. Click the conversion tab and check the Conversion enabled box. It will list a rule where videos are automatically converted to an AVI format. If you want to keep this rule then just click on okay and your are done. If you want to do the conversion yourself, then remove the rule and then click okay. Video conversion is another topic for another day.

Now it is time to start downloading those favorite videos. One of the features of Download Helper is that it will list most of the sites where you can download those videos or clips that you enjoy. Of course you found yours on YouTube, but if you are curious about other sites all you need to do is click on Tools>Download Helper>Supported sites. A new window will pop up with all the sites that Video Download Helper works with. Of course Youtube is at the top. Now it is time to download one of your favorite videos or clips.

Go to YouTube and enter the keywords to locate your video. Lets say it is Misfits of Science. Type in Misfits of Science in the search box and hit enter. You then get this massive list of videos. Hopefully, your video will be on the first page or you can narrow your search by adding other keywords. Once you have found your video click on it and start playing.

See the drop down arrow just to the right of the Video Download Helper icon. While your video is playing click on this drop down button. It should have the name of your video on the title. Don't let the .flv extension scare you. This is how most of these videos are formatted on these websites. Many programs will play them including VLC video player, Media Player classic and Windows Media Player. You may have to install a new codec like K-Lite Codec to get Windows Media Player to play it if your version is older. Just a note, VLC video player will play just about anything. I have yet to find something that it didn't play. I recommend it highly.

Now back to your download. Click on the bar that opened when you hit the drop down button. A new window will open asking if you want to save this file. Of course you do. Click save and your video will begin downloading to the default folder. You can also save to a folder of your choosing.

Once your video has downloaded you can enjoy it as often as you want. You can also now email it to your friends directly. Congratulations.

One final thing, if you are a more visually oriented person then I have included this link:

http://www.downloadhelper.net/tutorial.php?id=6d1ZEY639dE

This is a pretty good video that shows what I have just explained.