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hajime

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 23, 2007
8,092
1,368
Hi, this morning I noticed that VdhCoApp shows up on my desktop. Why? I have not heard of it nor downloaded it myself.
 
vdhcoapp is a multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) application providing the Video DownloadHelper browser add-on with: file writing API features that are not available from the browser, temporary file name generation, launching default application on a data file, a build of the ffmpeg video converter.

vdhcoapp complies with the native messaging protocol and is not intended to be used directly from the command line.
 
vdhcoapp is a multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux) application providing the Video DownloadHelper browser add-on with: file writing API features that are not available from the browser, temporary file name generation, launching default application on a data file, a build of the ffmpeg video converter.

vdhcoapp complies with the native messaging protocol and is not intended to be used directly from the command line.
And I guess for some reason it was placed on the desktop?
 
I had to use the Firefox extension earlier DownloadHelper to download a video. To do so the extension said I needed to download this so called co-app. If member serves, the app was called DownloadHelperco-app (they added this to my applications folder automatically after I downloaded this co-app. I used a new user account to do this but was forced by macOS to give the user account admin privileges in order to be able to download any apps.

The app automatically ran a script and a script editor notification was added to Notification Center telling me VdhCoApp was ready to be used. What else may this script have done? I have no idea. I got my video (put in shared user folder) and deleted the user account and the app from Applications.

There's a website when I searched online which called this app ad-ware and requested I download their app to remove the app from my computer. LOL, I'm not that dumb.

I think when I get a new Mac in a couple of years I'll probably use this Mac to download videos I need (rarely) and not put this extension near my new computer.

I would like to know where else on my Mac any files below to this app may be still lurking. AppZapper found none. Ah, well.

Incidentally, some 1-start reviews of the Firefox extension DownloadHelper say the extension worked fine for the first three uses and then asked for this co-app to be added on which tells me the co-app isn't needed at all. Though I presumed just as much anyway.
 
Hi, this morning I noticed that VdhCoApp shows up on my desktop. Why? I have not heard of it nor downloaded it myself.
You installed it as well as the Video DownloadHelper browser extension likely during an attempt to download video from a website like YouTube.

The former is a helper application (co-helper) that works in conjunction with the browser extension. A user installs the browser extension to download a video and the extension will ask if you would like to download the helper application. The co-helper is not required for the browser extension to work, it just smooths out some of the process.

Apparently you and Mac Fly did not read the prompts carefully and the co-helper installed after you clicked a certain button allowing it to download and install.

This browser extension works particularly well with Firefox. It is not a new extension, it has been around for well over a decade. It is used most frequently to download videos from YouTube so you can guess how long it has been around.

The browser extension and the helper application are legit.
 
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You installed it as well as the Video DownloadHelper browser extension likely during an attempt to download video from a website like YouTube.

The former is a helper application (co-helper) that works in conjunction with the browser extension. A user installs the browser extension to download a video and the extension will ask if you would like to download the helper application. The co-helper is not required for the browser extension to work, it just smooths out some of the process.

Apparently you and Mac Fly did not read the prompts carefully and the co-helper installed after you clicked a certain button allowing it to download and install.

This browser extension works particularly well with Firefox. It is not a new extension, it has been around for well over a decade. It is used most frequently to download videos from YouTube so you can guess how long it has been around.

The browser extension and the helper application are legit.

Thank you.
 
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