Is the Video Download Helper companion app safe on Firefox?
from HottieAutie@lemmy.dbzer0.com to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 19:53
https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/27138219

There is an extension/add-on for Firefox called Video Download Helper that lets users download embedded videos from all sorts of websites. While it works as a simple Firefox add-on sometimes, for a remarkable portion of sites (e.g. on Vimeo) it says that it cannot do so as installed and states that the user has to install the companion app to their computer. Does anyone know if this is safe or is installing it placing myself in any risk? If you suggest against installing the companion app, do you have any other recommendations on how to download videos embedded videos from websites?

Edit: I’m on a Debian-derivative distro.

#nostupidquestions

threaded - newest

24_at_the_withers@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 19:58 next collapse

Can’t speak for the security or that extension - I tried it once several years ago and immediately ran into the same problems. Since then, I’ve used JDownloader2, which is a standalone app, on both windows and Linux Mint. Works great for me.

Cobrachicken@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 20:01 next collapse

With that many users, don’t you think that app has never ever been uploaded to a site like virustotal?

HottieAutie@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 05 Sep 14:23 collapse

No, I don’t think that, mostly because I don’t know what that is.

slazer2au@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 20:20 next collapse

I have been using it on Windows for several years and haven’t spotted anything malicious with it.

konalt@lemmy.world on 03 Sep 21:54 next collapse

I’ve used it for years on Windows and had no problems.

LunchMoneyThief@links.hackliberty.org on 03 Sep 22:24 next collapse

license key

Ew

Custom License

I’ll interpret that as: proprietary software

Website hosted behind clownflare

Without investigating any further, I can say that I certainly wouldn’t trust it.

I’ve been using youtube-dl and later yt-dlp for years now without issues.

tnarg42@lemmy.world on 04 Sep 02:00 next collapse

I’ve used it off and on in KUbuntu for a couple of years without issue, installing the helper app from the .deb file directed to me by the plugin. I have scanned it for viruses and watched for strange behavior, and I haven’t observed anything suspicious. It runs as the current user, no elevated privileges required.

Thavron@lemmy.ca on 04 Sep 10:55 next collapse

I always use stacher.io

ProxyZeus@lemmy.world on 05 Sep 22:41 collapse

I mean it has worked fine for me on Linux for years