Beat streamingrestrictions
COVER
FEATURE4-17April 2018 43
ClicktheHistorylinkin
YouTube’sleft-handmenuand
youmaybesurprisedbythe
sheervolumeandvarietyof
videosyou’vewatchedand
searchedforoverthelastfew
weeks,monthsandyears.
Thechancesarethatsome
entriesmayalsobeembarrassing
orbaffling–sillyorcontroversial
clipsthatyouplayedafterafew
drinksorabandonedafterafew
seconds–andyoumaynotwant
Googletoretainthisinformation
anduseit totargetyouwith
relatedads.
Towipetheslateclean,click
the‘Clearall watchhistory’
buttonandconfirmyou’resure
youwanttodoso(it can’tbeundone). Alternatively,you
candeleteunwantedentries
individuallyorsearchfora
specificvideotoremoveit.You
canalsopreventYouTubefrom
storingwhatyouwatchinfuture
byclicking‘Pausewatchhistory’.
Todeleteyoursearches,select
‘Searchhistory’under‘History
type’andclick‘Clearall search
history’.Youcanalsoreviewand
deleteeverycommentyou’ve
everpostedonYouTube.
Forafinalscrub,gotoyour
Googleactivitypage(myactivity
.google.com)andchoose‘Delete
activityby’.SelectYouTubefrom
thedrop-downmenu,then‘All
time’(orashorterperiodifyou
prefer)andclickDelete.WIPEYOURYOUTUBEHISTORY
skipper(bit.ly/adskipper446).
This extensionfor Chrome andFirefox
skipsads automatically, as soon as the
option appears, whichmeans that
creators canearnadrevenuewithout
trying your patience.Ifthatdoesn’t
soundtough enough and youwantto
banish anyand allads from view,then
you’re better offblockingallYouTube
adsusing aless ethicaltoolsuchas
AdblockPlus or uBlock Origin.
Skip spokenintros to music
videos
Many musicvideosonYouTube are
preceded by waffly spoken
introductions that delay your listening
pleasure. Youcan fixthisaudio
annoyanceusing aChromeextension
called Skipper(bit.ly/skipper446),
whichjumps pastthetalkingatthe
beginning of amusic video to take you
straight to thesong. Theadd-onworks
automatically, butyou canalso manually
setthe startand end points for
playback and disable it when youwant
to hear theintro foravideo.Usefully,
Skipperkeeps trackofhow many
secondsofblather you’ve skipped,
and youcan also skip anytalkinginthe
middle and at theend of videos.
Watchvideos in apop-out player
OneofOpera’s most useful features
is theability to watchvideosfrom
YouTube and other video sitesina
detachable,floatingpanelthat’sboth
movable and resizable.Thismeans you
cankeepwatching, even when you
leave thesiteorminimise your browser
to useother programs. Youcan getthe
same flexibility in Chrome by installing
Popoutfor YouTube (bit.ly/popyou446),
whichaddsapop-out arrowicontothe
top-right corner of videos. Clickthisto
open theplayerinanew windowthat
youcan drag wherever youlikeand
resize as required.For Firefox, trythe
similarYouTube PopoutPlayer(bit.ly/
firepop446).Clearyour
YouTubewatch
andsearch
historyto
protect your
privacySwitchoff Autoplay to stop YouTubetrappingyou
with suggestedvideosStopYouTubeplaying
videos automatically
Thereare occasionswhen
youonlyhave thetime
or desiretowatch one
video on YouTube,but its
annoyingautoplayfeature
tempts youtostay
indefinitely,withanever-
endingstream of
‘suggested’clips that its
algorithmthinks you’ll like.
Fortunately, it’s easy to
stop YouTube playing
videosautomatically–
just slidethe Autoplay
option above the‘Up next’listtothe offposition. In theYouTube mobile app,
go to Settings,General and switch offAutoplaythere.
YouTube recently startedtesting another type of autoplay video,which appears
when youbrowsethe Home screen of itsAndroid app. Although theseclips are
silent, they usesubtitles to getyourattention and areenabledbydefault,sothey
canprove pretty irritating. To stop them,gotoSettings,General and turn off
‘Playasyou browse’.WatchYouTube videos in amovable and
resizablepop-out player