How to save online (youtube) videos to your computer?

You have just found the answer to the big question many are asking each other these days.

Lets see.........you really like this video on YouTube but you can not download it to your computer because YouTube doesn't allow it. So how do you get arround this situation? I have found many ways but I will tell you he best!

The easiest and most simple (but not thought of ) is to view the full video on line, and head to the temperory internet files folder via
Tools >
Internet Options >
Settings (under subheading 'browsing history') >
And clicking the View Files button.

Ok what now? I have the folder open.

Good!.....Well there will be many files in this folder (lots of different types) but we are looking for your video (which will be most often a .flv file). To save time, right click with in the folder and select 'arrange icons by', then select 'size'. This will order all the files from biggest to smallest size (or vice versa). The reason why we did this, is to make the video appear quickly of you (video files usually are larger then other types).

Now with in the big files, find the video file you wish to copy. Some times the files aren't named properly (are random numbers and names) and not are specified a file type. Just copy all the .flv or 'big' files into your Documents folder.

I want you to rename the file/s to Video.flv, Video2.flv, Video3.flv etc. This will replace the shotty names from YouTube (the names sometimes render the file unuseable).

But how to play the files? You ask

"Easy"

Just search Google for FLV or Wimpy player. Find a matching site and download one of those players. Install them (you might not have to) and launch them. From there you can open or Drag And Drop your videos to play them. Congrats!

"Well thats not good enough I want them in a common video file format!"

You say, well this can be done as well! To convert these files, download Any Video Converter or Super. Search it and download it. Use them to convert the files to a common format like .avi, .mpg, .mp4 or .wma.
I strongly suggest Any Video Converter as Super has a complicated interface. I assume you are good with computers as I am not telling you how to fully use these programs and make use of thier vast options.

"Alternatives" You ask, well there are many sites out there but I found that http://vixy.net/ works the best. All you have to do is enter the URL of the video you want, select the output video type, wait and download the video already converted and compatible with Windows Media Player.

I hope you found this information usefull and ended up having a working video on your computer! If you have any questions feel free to ask.

By Nish Nayar,