WARNING: JUNK AHEAD
Junk offender: File converters
File conversion is your favourite subject for our regular ‘What Should I Download?’ section. In just a couple of weeks we’ve received letters asking how to convert MOV video files to AVI, Youtube videos to DVD, ODT documents to DOCX, and FLAC audio files to the smaller MP3 (see page 19, Issue 483, for the latter).
But whenever we offer advice for this sort of software it always comes with a warning: free conversion tools are trouble. They often contain PUPS, and may even be spyware in disguise.
Conversion con
Video Download Converter ( http://free. videodownloadconverter.com) was suggested to me by a Google advert. Its permissions include the ominous ‘Read and change all your data on the websites that you visit’ (see screenshot) - in other words, take over your browser. I’m amazed it even asked. In fact, it includes a screenshot of a Pup-style toolbar, like a burglar showing you what he wants to steal before he chucks it in his swag bag.
The same screenshot turned up on a tech help site ( www.snipca.com/21805), under the question ‘How do I remove the Video Download Converter Toolbar from my computer, please help me’. I won’t install the extension – I value my PC.
Beware of any tool whose name ends ‘Media Converter’. A browser hijacker originally called Simple Media Converter has been circulating under the name Express Media Converter, Super Media Converter and Speedy Media Converter for nearly a year. It doesn’t work – but it does install spyware.
I could fill pages with examples. Instead I’ll urge caution and suggest safe alternatives. Handbrake ( https:// handbrake.fr) converts video and audio for free, but I find it baffling to use. Waltr ( https://softorino.com/waltr) is easier and newer, but you have to register to use it. My favourite is Zamzar ( www.zamzar. com), which works entirely online and lets you convert ebooks, documents and photos as well as video and audio. It’s free to convert files up to 50MB, or £7 a month for larger files.