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  • Active
  • Severity: Medium
  • Adware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Feb 2016

How to remove Free YouTube Downloader

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Linas Kiguolis · Expert in social media

Is it worth downloading Free YouTube Downloader?

Free YouTube Downloader is just another downloader that is supposed to help people download Youtube videos to their computers. However, the developers of this program have clearly failed to mention that it may also work as an adware-type application. Firstly, it may drop its components on your web browsers. Some of them are capable of tracking PC users and collecting information related to their browsing on the web. Such programs are usually known as cookies. No matter that they are not capable of collecting personally identifiable information, they may collect such data as computers’ IP address, their location, users’ email address and so on. We do NOT recommend revealing such data as it may cause more spam in your inbox. Once the developers of this program manage to collect the required amount of data, they may start causing Free Youtube Downloader ads in your search results. Typically, these ads are set to report about discounts, surveys, promotions, contests and similar tricky events that should be avoided. Why should you be careful with ads by Free Youtube Downloader? These ads may redirect you to suspicious websites seeking to increase their popularity and sales. Would you like to be tricked into visiting such sites? The easiest way to prevent Free YouTube Downloader redirect that may start interrupting you as soon as you start your browsing session is to remove this program from your computer. For that, we highly recommend FortectIntego.

The main page of Free YouTube Downloader and ads that it can cause

How can Free YouTube Downloader appear on my computer?

Free YouTube Downloader is NOT a virus. However, it may also be used a tool for affiliate marketing and added along with various freeware and shareware as a browser toolbar. We admit that it’s a handy tool, but if you want to install it, please find its official website and download it there. Otherwise, you may experience unwanted browser hijacking, system slow downs, redirects to the questionable websites, receive sponsored advertisements and so on. Unfortunately, people frequently fall into installing it without being noticed. That’s because it may be included as an additional component to free software and disclosed in a misleading manner. Thus, people, who are not attentive enough when installing free programs can easily accept to install ‘optional downloads’ without even suspecting that. To avoid this happening, you should start checking every freeware that you are going to install. First of all, try reading EULA, users’ reports about it and other relevant information. If you think that a free program that you need is reliable, select Advanced or Custom installation option and verify every check box carefully. You have to make sure that your selected program is not filled with additional components, such as Free YouTube Downloader. If you find any, make sure that you uncheck all of them because otherwise you may install a browser hijacker, adware or another suspicious program.

Free YouTube Downloader removal:

If you are ready to remove Free YouTube Downloader from your computer, you should select either manual or automatic removal option. We are sure that both of these methods are effective, and the only thing that you need to consider is your experience. If you have been using computers for a long time, and you believe that you are an experienced PC user, we recommend you to select manual removal of Free YouTube Downloader virus. It requires checking the Task Manager and each of web browsers for suspicious entries. If you don’t know anything about Task Manager and extensions of each of web browsers, then you should opt for automatic removal of this program. In this case, you should Free Youtube Downloader from your computer with one of the reputable anti-spyware programs that are given below.

Uninstall from Windows

Uninstall from Windows 10/8:

  1. Type Control Panel into the Windows search box and open the result.
  2. Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 10/8

Uninstall from Windows 7/XP:

  1. Click on Windows Start > Control Panel (Windows XP users should click on Add/Remove Programs).
  2. In Control Panel, select Programs > Uninstall a program.Uninstall from Windows 7/XP

Remove the unwanted program:

  1. In the Programs and Features window, look for any recently installed suspicious entries, select them, and click Uninstall.
  2. If User Account Control appears, click Yes to confirm, then complete the removal.Uninstall the unwanted program from Windows

Delete from macOS

Remove the unwanted application:

  1. From the menu bar, select Go > Applications.
  2. In the Applications folder, look for any suspicious entries, then drag them to Trash (or right-click and pick Move to Trash).Uninstall from Mac

Delete leftover files and folders:

  1. Select Go > Go to Folder.
  2. Enter /Library/Application Support and remove any suspicious folders related to the unwanted program.
  3. Repeat the same check in the /Library/LaunchAgents and /Library/LaunchDaemons folders, deleting any suspicious entries.Delete leftover files from Mac
  4. Finally, empty the Trash to permanently remove the leftovers.

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

Did this guide help?

3 comments

  1. Port54

    Does anyone have any other application they would offer for youtube downloading? Just removed this one with SpyHunter, I dont want to try any other one unless Im sure its not malicious....

  2. Jerem

    I have tried removal instructions, successfully removed Free YouTube Downloader :)

  3. Geyse

    I think you should just watch youtube, without downloading..

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