FVD downloader for Chrome latest extension that injects ads on websites
Buying successful extensions and adding monetization options to them, usually in the form of ad injections on websites users visit, seems to be a profitable business model.
While it is unclear if the company controlling the popular FVD Downloader extension for Chrome has changed, it is confirmed that it has started to inject advertisement on web pages you visit.
FVDÂ Downloader is one of the most popular Google Chrome extensions with its nearly 2 million users as reported on the extensions' Chrome Web Store page at the time of writing (no longer available).
It works on the majority of sites that embed videos, the most notable exception is YouTube where it does not work on due to Google's store policy that prohibits this explicitly.
It is not clear when advertisement started to show up for the first time, but users have been leaving reviews criticizing it in the comment section on the Chrome Web Store page for at least the past couple of days.
If you browse the source code of the extension, which you can do from the Chrome profile directory if it is installed for example, you will find mentions of Superfish there.
Software by the company is often used by extensions, especially those offering price comparison but also by extension authors and companies who try to monetize their extensions by adding one of the company products to their extensions.
Disable the ads
The ads are enabled by default in the extension which means that all users who have installed it in Chrome will be exposed to those while browsing the Internet.
There is an opt-out option in the preferences. Here is what you need to do to disable the advertisement:
- Right-click on the FVD Downloader icon in Chrome's address bar and select options from the context menu that opens up.
- This opens the options page. Here you need to remove the checkmark from "Enabled FVD Downloader Deals" and click on apply changes to complete the process.
Alternatives
Here are some download alternatives for Chrome that you may want to give a try instead. They are also hosted on Google's official web store.
- Video Downloader Premium -- Works on the majority of websites. A click on the extension icon on a page with a video displays download options.
- Video Downloader professional - Is compatible with most video hosting websites on the Internet. It adds an icon to Chrome's address bar that indicates whenever video contents are found on a page. Two clicks, one on the icon and one on the download button save the selected video to the local system.
Know of another program for the job? Share it with everyone in the comments below.
Don’t ask what others have done for you, but ask what you have done for others
I just found a new ext for FVD Suggestions in my chrome extensions and no enable ads option in the downloader. I just removed the extension.
I haven’t seen an ad in 9 gorius years. FVD can’t put those ads on pages if you have Adblock Plus.
Another helpful thing is to allow only cookies to sites where you have login accounts. This takes a bit of time to setup but is worth it. I no longer have to run Superantispyware every day to clean 100+ tracking cookies off my hard drive. This helps block superfish and all of the other scumbags off of pages and your hard drive.
I set my browsers to block sites from setting cookies and site data and block third-party data. Then in the exceptions panel I put cookie urls like http://accounts.youtube.com/
Click the icon in the URL bar to find the cookies for that site. Then type them into the exceptions box above.
I have text file with all of the cookie urls I allow. Handy when setting up a browser.
@tagy66 – try Video Downloader Professional, which is what I use on my Windows desktop. The free version doesn’t have quite as many options as FVD and it runs a bit slower, but it’s not nearly as intrusive.
AHHHH THANK YOU! It never occurred to me why I was getting those annoying ads. I happened to be annoyed enough to look at them. Unchecking the box was my fix!
I like the downloader because my daughter posts videos of my grandson a lot and this downloader is perfect for me to save them.
It’s a little worse than that – NOW (Nov.2014) you have to go through a “brief survey” and accept an offer before it’ll even install on Chrome!
“controlling the popular FDV Downloader extension…”
“FDV Downloader is one of the most popular…”
“Right-click on the FDV Downloader icon…”
The extension is “FVD Downloader” according to the Chrome Store; the initials are wrong in at least these 3 instances…
Corrected, thanks.
“FDV downloader for Chrome…”…. it’s FVD Downloader… and since version 5.0.1, it basically stopped working on many sites. Luckily I saved the CRX file and can use it in Chrome DEV, but even then it works differently now than it did before the BIG Chrome Play Store policy. Before – on saving, it would use the iD3 tags – , now it only saves the file as a non descript numeric file name and often it won’t even tack on the file type as it did before (mp3, mpa, m4a, ogg, etc…).
The current version (I think it is 5.9.2) doesn’t work on the many sites I used it on, and pretty useless, which is why I opted for switching to Chrome DEV so it would not disable that one extension I rely heavily on. Though true it still works somewhat, it no longer works as it once did. Also it is grabbing non-playable media even with the SWF option checked off.
I wish Chrome would reverse that stupid policy, who do they think they are… Apple?
Wish Google takes care of this ugly practice … like banning the process of injecting advertisements/malwares. It is impossible for a regular guy to keep track of these. A Google-less internet world is tough.
Another that also popular Video Downloader professional: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/video-downloader-professi/elicpjhcidhpjomhibiffojpinpmmpil
I think the evil doers don’t even need to buy extensions.
They can just get the code via the installation, add in their malicious or adware stuff then repack and post in places other than the Chrome Web Store.
Or they can post back in the Chrome Web Store with a similar name.
Or they can include it in other software.
In the end the user must be vigilant.
Chrome Stable only allows extensions from the Store but Dev and Canary has no such restrictions.
If the extension is bought then nothing to say but if the original author is “framed” then the user must check their own actions before “flaming” the innocent original author.
Just my opinion, nothing to do with FDV downloader.
Unless you’re a developer (creating your own extensions), there’s probably no reason to be using Beta or Canary versions of Chrome.
If you are on Windows and want to load extensions that are not from the store, you may want to use Canary or Dev for that. While there are other options, they require additional work.
Is this “tool” off any use: http://www.textfixer.com/html/compress-html-compression.php for websites as is jpeg compression to ~60
@off
Martin, what do you think about use Disqus here?
Don’t like, as it adds another script to the page.
THANK you :)
I got you. I think your site is very very good, but I miss more comments.
Anyway, thanks for the reply!
There’s also vget – https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vget-extension-video-down/hniladkejehjfchadikcbjmgjaogciic
Altho it doesn’t work as well as FDV does