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Is Y2mate Safe? All You Should Know

With millions of videos to watch, including movies, music videos, and shows, YouTube has become a significant entertainment source for most people. Moreover, YouTube serves an audience of all ages, so you can enjoy the site as a family. 

Unfortunately, one of the disadvantages of having YouTube videos as your entertainment source is the many pop ups that appear on the screen and disrupt your viewing or MP3 listening experience. The annoying ads cause people to look for ways to watch their favorite videos or listen to their MP3s offline. To enjoy free offline videos and MP3s without ads, one has to download the videos. 

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However, it is illegal to download YouTube videos since most of the videos on YouTube are licensed. But, unlicensed YouTube videos are legal to download. Regardless, most people still go ahead and download the videos they want to watch offline.

One way of downloading YouTube videos is by using Y2mate. But, doesn’t this idea sound too good to be true? Is it safe? Getting free, no registration required, and unlimited YouTube downloads are too good to be true. This article looks at whether Y2mate is safe to use for your web browser, how to use it, remove the viruses, and the best alternative for downloading YouTube videos.

Is Y2mate Safe? – What is Y2mate?

Y2mate is a website that allows web browser users to freely convert and download videos and audios from video sharing websites like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Y2mate converts the videos or audios into various formats like FLV, MP4, and MP3. Users then pick their preferred format before downloading.

 To download, open the Y2mate.com website and then copy and paste the link of the YouTube video you want to download. Y2mate will then display various versions of the video. The versions include MP3, Mp4 or other similar formats. 

Essentially, Y2mate is not a harmful site. However, the notifications and pop ups that continuously appear on the site can easily affect your computer Windows. Y2mate website has numerous ads that redirect the user to other malicious sites when clicked. Most of these ads lead to gaming and, at times, pornographic sites. Y2mate.com also has a virus known as the Y2mate.com virus. Even though Y2mate is not harmful on its own, the Y2mate.com virus is harmful. 

It is challenging to avoid clicking on the pop ups when on Y2mate.com because the download tab keeps moving. Unfortunately, once you click on the ads or notifications, your computer automatically gets infected with the Y2mate.com virus, and numerous harmful installations may occur.

Is Y2mate Safe?

So, is Y2mate safe for you to use? Despite being a free Youtube video downloading site, Y2mate is not a safe download platform because of the Y2mate.com virus. The website has many ads and notifications, which lead to other suspicious and potentially harmful websites when clicked on. Moreover, the site quickly redirects to other websites when they finally click on the ‘download’ tab. 

As soon as you click on the download tab, the site will take you to another suspicious, possibly malicious website, or your device may be automatically infected with the Y2mate.com virus. Most of the time, you can be redirected to a gaming website or a website featuring adult content. 

Another feature that makes Y2mate.com unsafe for downloading YouTube videos is the other piece of information available on the site. The site asks users to click on the ‘allow’ button, so they can subscribe to push notifications. If you click ‘allow’, you will be in for some unwanted disruptions in addition to your computer being infected with the Y2mate.com virus. Consequently, you will start receiving a series of unwanted pop ups and notifications on your computer screen, even after closing your web browser. 

You will also be putting your PC in danger since allowing the push notifications makes it easier for the Y2mate.com virus and other viruses to enter your PC when you click on the ads and notifications from malicious sources. 

Most importantly, you will be putting your privacy at stake because it is easy for malicious sources to retrieve your data once your device is infected with the Y2mate.com virus. Also, this can happen as soon as you allow notifications and pop up ads.

Is Y2mate Safe? – How to Use Y2mate to Safely Download YouTube Videos

To use Y2mate safely and avoid the Y2mate.com virus, be careful not to click on any of the suspicious pop ups and notifications that continuously appear on the screen. Also, avoid clicking on any unclear pop ups that promise virus protection installation. 

This is because most of the ads lead to malicious websites that hackers may use to retrieve the user’s personal information. The hackers can then use the personal information to commit fraud on stolen identity. Also, clicking on the ads easily infects your computer with the Y2mate.com virus, making it easier for other unwanted malware to infect your computer. 

Additionally, avoid opening other websites that claim your device is infected. If not careful, you can easily be led to believe that your PC has a virus infection and hence deceived to provide your personal information in exchange for your computer to be fixed. 

Also, clicking on such pages and allowing cookies puts your personal information in jeopardy.

Thus, the safest way to use Y2mate to download videos from YouTube is by avoiding clicking on the ads and notifications. Also, make sure you click on the download tab and not anywhere else on the screen and always deny cookies.

However, avoiding to open other malicious pages when using Y2mate is tough since the other websites can automatically open when you click on the ‘download’ tab, so you can download your YouTube videos.

The discussion around the safety of online video downloaders brings to light the broader issue of internet safety. Users should exercise caution and employ robust cybersecurity measures to protect against malware, which has been shown to affect millions of devices and systems around the world each year. The convenience of accessing content offline should not overshadow the importance of safeguarding one’s personal and financial information.

Kurt Sanger Cybersecurity Expert

How to Remove Y2mate Virus

Does Y2mate give viruses?

As mentioned above, Y2mate is not a harmful website in itself, but it is the Y2mate.com virus and other adware found on the site that makes it malicious because it affects Windows. Furthermore, the malicious ads and notifications make the site dangerous for android, mac and PC users. Your device can become infected with the Y2mate.com virus when you click on the suspicious ads displayed on the website.

Luckily, you can remove the Y2mate.com virus from your web browser in two ways. These are:

  • Using anti-spyware
  • Manual Y2mate removal

Using Anti-Spyware

Spyware is the kind of malware that hackers use to retrieve the user’s personal information without the computer user’s knowledge, such as when the computer is infected with the Y2mate.com virus. Anti-spyware is the software designed to detect and carry out spyware programs removal.

Most of the time, the computer’s malware installation happens without the user’s knowledge when the computer has a virus-like Y2mate.com. This poses a threat to the user’s security because hackers can easily retrieve the user’s information without their knowledge or permission, which can lead to credit card information being stolen and identity theft. 

For instance, malware installation can happen without your knowledge when you click on the ads and notifications that appear on the Y2mate website or download your favorite video.

Spyware hinders Window’s performance by using the processing power, redirecting your activity, or adding other adware that may be equally harmful. 

To eliminate the Y2mate.com virus using the anti-spyware, select the anti-spyware app and then update it before running a full scan of your computer Windows. Anti-spyware does all the job of eliminating the Y2mate.com virus and any adware for you as it will search for all unwanted and harmful apps that you may have installed unknowingly.

Manual Y2mate Removal

This option works best if you are well conversant with handling computer issues.  To start, access all recently installed apps that are on your computer and then uninstall them. Secondly, reset your web browser to default settings because the Y2mate.com viruses also affect the browser. Lastly, block all notifications to avoid future reinfection.

You can also modify other settings and make changes to prevent further redirects caused by the Y2mate virus. For safety, use system optimization software or PC repair tools.

You can also use Reimage, an online repair tool for computers. Reimage automatically fixes all computer issues like adware and malware by replacing all corrupt Windows’ files.

Browser extensions also help prevent different adware and malware. The extensions achieve this by blocking some web pages and ads from suspicious sources. The browser extensions are also responsible for translating web text languages. 

Browser extensions also help in the management of cookies.

Alternative YouTube Download Options

There are numerous other options for downloading YouTube videos besides Y2mate. One of the options is OnlineVideoConverter. OnlineVideoConverter is an easy-to-use video downloader, as you only require the YouTube video link, and you are good to go. Its only downside is its slow speed when fetching and uploading data.

Other alternatives include:

  • SaveFrom.net
  • Clip converter
  • Bitdownloader

All the above alternative YouTube video downloaders are reliable and effective. However, they may have cookies and may also contain adware and malware, making them not completely safe to use. Thus, be careful when using them and always decline the cookies to be on the safe side.

Conclusion

It is clear that Y2mate is not a safe option for downloading videos from YouTube. Even though Y2mate is easy to use, reliable, and fast, the site features multiple ads and notifications from dubious sources that pose a security threat.

Safer alternatives to Y2mate include SaveFrom.net, Clipconverter, Bitdownloader, and OnlineVideoConverter.