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[lolly]

This may be a dumb question, but I'm wondering how secure a site like KeepVid.com is?

I used to use it, but then someone mentioned Java can be dodgy. First, it asks you to Run the Java applet. Which I figure is fine.

But then it comes up with a Security Warning saying 'Do you want to run this application?'



It was just the 'unrestricted access' that concerned me.

I wonder if it would be better to create a different user account with very restricted abilities and download a Youtube clip on that account? How could I restrict this on Windows 7?
(bolded because my post is a bit rambling and this is the most important bit )

I should also highlight that these aren't copyrighted videos; it's just that the internet has a habit of failing when I need to present things.

[8210GUY]

The problem goes a bit deeper than the site in question, whether that site is "safe" or not look at the warning, by allowing it you are giving absolute access to your system, and those that find it necessary to mess peoples systems up by creating nasties such as trojans etc, they use various kinds of media to infect peoples systems, and the trick I see they use to avoid detection is by using codecs, the file itself is often not infected at the point of download, this enables them to avoid detection, by both the more active sites, and the end user, even scanning when you first get it will come back clean, it's only when you run the file it then goes and gets the extra files it needs to complete it's infection of the system. Creating another account won't help, at least as far as I know, the pro's would know better than I there, but in win 7 you are already using a basic user account, it just has the ability to elevate you to admin status temporarily when needed, the rest of the time it's an ordinary account, and even if you could use such an account, you would not be able to install it in the first place, as that requires admin rights, so my best advice is ditch that site, not because the site itself has any risk, I couldn't say, but it's probably a genuine site, but the danger is in the files it downloads, and the fact you have granted unlimited access by installing the program, so IMHO, it's a trap door waiting to be opened. I don't download such files as you do, so I can't advise on alternate options, but I'm sure google has a lot of them, just make sure how much power you allow it to have, anything on the lines of your image above, run a mile lol, but anything that wants to go get extra files to let you view the content, avoid like the plague, sorry I can't give more specific help, but hopefully this will help you understand a bit about the risks involved, although it doesn't mean every file is nasty, it only takes 1 file to catch you out, so always be aware of risk, as you have here, hope this helps a bit anyway.