YouTube downloading hundreds of files??!!

[silverweb]

Hi, people. Sorry I only seem to speak when I need help, but I don't know what to do with this. My computer is everything - news, information, & entertainment - and I subscribe to YouTube Premium, which is well worth the price. Everything was fine until yesterday, when it became very sluggish, taking almost a full minute to load anything at all. Then this appeared in the lower lefthand corner:

https://imgur.com/a/H9mBlxD

I shut it down with difficulty, because the screen was nonresponsive at first, rebooted, and tried again. Same result. Each time, it shows a different number of files to be downloaded. The only way to stop it is to close the page, but it starts right up again once reopened. No other site is affected and everything else works just fine. I can't find any new downloads on my computer, as far as I know to check, so I have no idea what's going on.

Is this a fixable glitch or setting? Or is something more nefarious going on? What should I do now?

Also, YouTube is working and unaffected on my phone and tablet. This is only happening on my computer.

[walkingman]

1. Sounds like you might be seeing "Smart downloads".....

YouTube's Smart Downloads feature automatically downloads videos for offline viewing based on your preferences. It analyzes your watch history, subscribed channels, and saved videos to predict what you'll enjoy. The feature ensures that you always have something to watch, even when you're offline.

To turn off YouTube Premium Smart Downloads on a computer, open YouTube in a browser, go to Settings > Downloads, and switch the "Smart Downloads" toggle off.

[silverweb]

2. That's not it.

I just checked, and smart downloads is turned off. Also, a malware scan from Avast said everything was fine.


I'm at a complete loss....

[walkingman]

3. Have you tried another browser? Just to try and isolate if the problem is YouTube, browser, or the computer itself.

[silverweb]

4. Oh, good idea!

I use Chrome on all my devices, but my computer has Windows 11. I guess I could break down and use the browser Windows keeps trying to push on me. lol Stand by...

[silverweb]

5. Yup. It's the browser.

Thanks for that suggestion! I'll delete Chrome and reinstall. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.

[silverweb]

6. Welp, it didn't work.

I deleted Chrome, then downloaded the browser again, and exactly the same thing is happening. I give up. I'll have to find another browser or break all my rules and use Bing Edge.

[walkingman]

7. Make sure you delete your cache, cookies, history in Chrome. Did you happen to add another extension

or addon? Open in incognito mode - that will disable the extensions....try a few things first.....

[canetoad]

9. Your user profile

Will still be there. You need to delete it first and start from scratch.

Uninstall Chrome, then
Go to C drive,
Users
Show Hidden Items (important, last entry in View menu)
Your name folder
AppData
Either Google or Chrome Browser folder - Completly delete the whole folder.

Than start again. If you are unsure about deleting a hidden folder, make a restore point first. Good luck, feel free to PM if you're having trouble.

[canetoad]

8. I'm OK with trying links

To work out what's happening. Your link above went to Imgur and showed the same downloading message - 869 files but I shut it off before it began.

Does imgur allow videos? I don't know as I don't use it. A nasty though crept in - maybe that link is a hidden way to access a folder of forbidden photos as I did a search for /a/H9mBlxD and there is nothing at all in results.

Another way to start Youtube downloading a lot of videos is to click on anything that's in a playlist; the whole lot will download sometimes.

[silverweb]

11. Whoa! That's weird!!

I've dumped Chrome and moved to Brave, which I'm finding I like better, anyway. Problem solved. Still using my Gmail address, but that's it.

Thanks to everyone who read & especially who responded!

[canetoad]

13. Good Idea

I use Brave much of the time; it's based on Chrome so is very similar but much more private and secure. Hope it solves your problems.

[CloudWatcher]

10. Imgur is not Youtube

I'm not sure what you're seeing (I don't use Chrome nor Windows), but fyi ...

- Imgur and Youtube are completely different sites.
- Imgur is usually used to host still images or pix with simple animations (animated gifs), but yeah, now videos too
- When I look at: https://imgur.com/a/H9mBlxD
I see a simple image that says "Downloading... 1/869" and "Keep this window open to continue"
But it is *NOT* starting a download. It's just a still picture that was saved to Imgur. It even has the
"Next >" button on the page to see the next image in the Imgur image browser.

I don't know for sure if this image was somehow doing nasty things to your computer, but I suspect not.

[silverweb]

12. The imgur image was taken from a *screenshot* on YouTube.

I was simply trying to show the image I was seeing. Why a heavily cropped screenshot should somehow connect YouTube & Imgur, I don't understand, but that seems to be what happened.

Thanks for reading and responding!

[CloudWatcher]

14. Ah, sorry

Oops, I didn't realize that was a sceencap you had made. I was about to suggest it was a nasty ad that youtube offered up, but then noticed you said you were Youtube premium ... so no ads.

Based on other's suggestions, it does sound like maybe you'd clicked on some download playlist feature ... except if the number of files was changing (and not just decreasing), then maybe it's a bogus Chrome plugin. Idk, but good luck with Brave!