Almost every streaming video site asks, to view the video, to install a codec, a player or an update. In fact, and this is always true, that is just a deceptive advertisement that tries to install a virus on your computer so you never need to download this update / codec / media player to play the video .
So I want to launch an appeal: never download these programs on your PC and, in case you are unable to close the banner or the warning (which often you are obliged to click to see the video), always close the window that opens by clicking on it or cancel the download that is generated.
When you open a web page with a streaming video, very often, you have to wait for the advertisement to go away on its own or click the hidden X in the middle of the banner.
In some cases, the button to download or to watch the video is small, with a large advertisement at the top that has similar buttons and that leads to the download of a malware.
Almost always then, when you click on the right Play button to start playback, a web page opens that invites you to download the codec or to update some plugins such as the Flash player or Java, to be ignored and closed immediately, possibly even before you open.
In some cases, after that "sponsor" page is loaded, trying to close it, you receive a warning that prevents it from closing and that still invites you to download something; again ignore and close.
The technique to see a video streaming on the internet, if it does not start automatically, is to click on Play, immediately close the popup or the tab that opens and recycle on Play.
A very effective way to recognize advertisements is to move the cursor over a link without clicking and look at the destination url at the bottom of the browser trying to recognize any advertising networks.
The bottom line is that, whether on social media or any low-quality video streaming site, you should never download any type of "codec pack", "media player", "plugin" "update" or "update" .
The deception does not only come from streaming sites where it is possible to search for pirated or illegal content from the point of view of copyright, but also, often, from social networks such as Facebook, where links shared by inattentive friends can often appear invite to see sensational videos or with bombastic titles.
This is one of the main ways Facebook is used to infect users' PCs with malware.
Fortunately, these types of ads do not exist on sites such as YouTube, where in fact you will never receive a notice to download codecs or other software to watch videos.
Basically, never agree to download junk passed off as indispensable software without which you cannot see the video.
In 99% of cases the video will be quietly visible in streaming by clicking in the right place, closing any hindrance advertisements or waiting for the banners to disappear.
The speech of codecs and web players is really very simple and you can't go wrong .
In the past, internet video players were different, there were internet videos based on Windows Media Player, QuickTime, Silverlight, RealPlayer, Divx, Flash, or Java applets.
On the PC, however, there were codec packs to be able to play all kinds of videos with the Windows Media Player program.
Today these difficulties have disappeared because many video sites stream in HTML5, without the need for plugins, while web browsers such as Chrome already include the Flash Player within them, which still remains the main technology of streaming videos (while other video technologies online have practically disappeared).
On the PC, every program to watch videos (other than Windows Media Player) can play any type of digital movie.
To summarize what I had already written in the software and codec guide to see films and videos of all kinds on Windows, on a computer you need nothing more than:
- An updated browser, whether it is Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or Opera does not matter, as long as it is the latest version and it supports watching videos in HTML5.
- Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer and Firefox (if you use Chrome, Adobe Flash Player is incorporated).
- VLC Player to view the downloaded videos, DVDs or videos recorded with the mobile phone.
If a video doesn't open with VLC, it means that the file is corrupt.
Of course you must also be sure to install the Flash Player, VLC or any other program, only from the official website, trying not to be fooled by similar sites that download other things.
For smartphones and mobile phones, the discussion is much more limited and you cannot install codecs or plugins on browsers, even the flash player that is no longer supported (even if you can still install Flash on Android).
You don't need anything else to watch videos online, on your PC, on the Internet, on your tablet and on your smartphone, you must always avoid any automatic download and train yourself to close the advertisements without thinking about it and click on the right button.
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