Entertainment
Download blues and breaching boundaries
Download blues and breaching boundariesPrajesh SJB Rana
I have been downloading a lot of YouTube videos with the help of KeepVid.com. Recently, Keepvid.com has not been working well for me and since I am looking for a different way to download YouTube videos, I wanted to ask what the easiest way would be?
—Jamuna Luitel
Dear Jamuna,
KeepVid.com is a very good online YouTube downloader but there are other easier ways to download if the site is not working for you. You have different ways to go about this process, you can either download a programme, find another online downloader or install a browser extension that will help you download. If you’re looking for the easiest way, all you have to do is navigate to a YouTube video and add the acronym ‘dlv’, which stands for Download Video, in front of your link. So, www.youtube.com will turn into www.dlvyoutube.com. Doing this will lead you to TubeNinja.com where the video you were watching will be available for download. Quite similar to KeepVid, TubeNinja is really easy to navigate through and is definitely, the easiest way to download videos from YouTube.
I watch a lot of TV Series and movies online and the sites that I watch them on are riddled with ads. There are so many ads that sometimes, while watching a video, I accidently click on them which opens up a lot of unwanted tabs that I will have to close one by one. This is quite annoying and I was wondering if there is any way, I could block these unwanted ads?
—Priti Pradhan
Dear Priti,
Most of these illegal video streaming sites will be infested with ads because that is how they support themselves and the massive servers that they might need to serve huge video files to your computer. Some sites don’t host these videos but merely act as an aggregator between you and the streaming service, but these sites also have a lot of ads on them. The best way to actually get rid of all of these annoying ads is to simply install a browser extension called AdBlocker Pro or AdGuard. These ad blocking extensions will automatically scan websites before they load and will block all ad related codes. This will also ensure that your website loads faster because it’s now downloading all of these unnecessary ad files and images and will also help keep your computer safe from viruses. But also keep in mind that a lot of free sites are free because they have ads that help them bear the cost for maintaining the website and servers, a lot of these websites will also call you out if you’re using an Adblocker because they need the revenue from ads to keep their websites afloat. If the website you’re visiting is important that you want to support, consider turning off Adblockers for these sites.
I work at coffee shops and restaurants a lot and am usually connected to their public Wi-Fi while working. I heard from some of my friends that when connected to a public Wi-Fi, my computer is at risk because anyone else on the same network can easily hijack my information. I have not experienced any hacking attempt yet but just in case, I want to secure my computer from hackers should they try to access my computer, how do you suggest I go about this process?
—Deepak Lamsal
Dear Deepak,
Your friends are right to caution you against public Wi-Fi services. Since a lot of routers come with built-in firewall services that keep you safe from hackers on the internet, they do almost nothing against hackers on the same network. Anyone connected to the same router can easily access your computer, salvage through your files and even figure out your online username and passwords. So, it is essential to keep your computer protected when connected to a public Wi-Fi. First of all, you will want to stop all network sharing options. With Windows 7 came the ability to easily share files and folders with peers in the same network but since you’ll be sharing these files with random people, it might not be a good idea to keep these options enables. Windows usually takes care of this easily by asking you what kind of connection you’re on, Home, Work or Public. Always choose Public when connected to a public Wi-Fi because doing this will automatically block of all sharing and network discovery options, beefing up the security of your PC while on a venerable public Wi-Fi. Second, make sure you’re accessing sites on a secure protocol, defined by a HTTPS connection. Using the HTTPS protocol will encrypt all data passing through your computer and the websites servers so even if someone managed to intercept your information, they wouldn’t be able to decrypt the information. Using HTTPS is quite simple, sites like Facebook and Twitter automatically route you through a secure HTTPS line but some sites might not do this automatically so make sure you keep an eye on the protocol on your browser address bar. If it says, HTTP, immediately change it to HTTPS. Thirdly, if you want the utmost security while browsing on public Wi-Fi, consider using a VPN service. The Virtual Private Network (VPN) will route all your data through a secure tunneling service that breaks your data into multiple chunks and bounces these data packets through different peers all over the world, so even if someone intercepts your data, they’ll only get one part of a larger chunk which won’t make a lot of sense without the other missing chunks. Using a VPN will considerably slow down your connection but if you want maximum security, using a VPN might just be for you. There are countless VPN services online like CyberGhost. You can even use the famous Tor Browser for this.
If your technological devices are giving you a hard time or if you’re just curious about certain technological questions, please drop us an email at [email protected] and we’ll try to answer your questions as best as we can.