Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Mia.
Lv 4
Mia. asked in Computers & InternetInternetYouTube · 1 decade ago

How do I get online videos to stream smoothly?

I'm on an Acer One netbook, and whenever I try watching videos on Hulu, Nick.com, YouTube, etc, the videos play fine for a few seconds, then freeze with the audio playing for a few seconds, then go back to playing-- and they do this over and over throughout the duration of the video. It does this with every video, regardless of the host site, and it's very frustrating. I tried defragging, but memory doesn't seem to be the issue-- the netbook's new, so I have 90% free memory.

..help, please?

10 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    The cause of your problem is simple: your "cache"

    memory & "temporary internet files'' are nearly full.

    This is especially true if you've been watching lots

    of videos or playing a lot of games/music.

    If you are experiencing either: A) slugglish loading

    and buffering, B) "choppy" videos which frequently

    start/stop/start/stop, C) the YouTube dotted circle

    looking like it might spin for ever, or D) videos that

    will sometimes come to a sudden "stop" or freeze,

    that is often a sign that your cache/memory is full

    and cannot take anymore.

    Exit out of YouTube (but not your browser) and do

    one of the sequences below. Afterward, shutdown

    & reboot. Not only will this 'free up' your computer

    memory, everything will be ''fresh'', and load faster:

    Internet Explorer 6:

    → Tools → Internet Options

    → Delete Cookies → OK

    → Delete Files → OK

    → Clear History → Yes

    → OK

    Internet Explorer 7:

    → Tools → Internet Options → Delete...

    → Delete files → Yes

    → Delete cookies → OK

    → Delete history → OK

    → Close (browsing history window)

    → OK

    Internet Explorer 8:

    → Tools → Delete Browsing History

    [. ] Preserve Favorites (leave blank)

    [x] Temporary Internet files

    [x] Cookies

    [x] History

    → Delete

    Mozilla Firefox 3:

    → Tools → Clear Private Data

    [x] Browsing History

    [x] Download History

    [x] Saved Form and Search History

    [x] Cache

    [x] Cookies

    → Clear Private Data Now

    Mozilla Firefox 3.5/3.6:

    → Tools → Clear Recent History

    Time range to clear: → Everything

    ▼ Details

    [x] Browsing & Download History

    [x] Saved Form and Search History

    [x] Cookies

    [x] Cache

    → Clear Now

    Apple Safari 3:

    → Edit → Preferences

    → Security (tab) → Show Cookies

    → Remove All → Done

    after that:

    → Safari → Empty Cache → Empty

    after that:

    → History → Clear History

    Apple Safari 4:

    → Safari → Reset Safari

    [x] Clear history

    [x] Empty the cache

    [x] Clear the downloads window

    [x] Remove all cookies

    → Reset

    Google Chrome:

    → Tools (wrench) → Clear browsing data...

    [x] Clear browsing history

    [x] Clear download history

    [x] Empty the cache

    [x] Delete cookies

    Clear data from this period: → Everything

    → Clear Browsing Data

    DON'T FORGET TO SHUT DOWN AND REBOOT

    AFTER DOING ONE OF THE ABOVE.

    If you have other applications which are running at

    the same time, those will slow down YouTube too.

    If you have "Torrents", you might want to consider

    closing or uninstalling them. A couple people who

    chose me as "Best Answer" wrote that everything

    worked great after they'd uninstalled their Torrents.

    For some reason, simply closing them didn't work.

    Also, "Adblock Plus", various Instant Messengers

    and literally every "stupid video accelerator" under

    the sun is known to interfere with YouTube.

    Another thing you may want to consider is turning

    off your anti-virus -- but only momentarily. As long

    as you remain on YouTube (and do not wander off

    to other websites), you will be okay, because you

    cannot get a virus from YouTube.

    And lastly, you can easily check your speed here:

    http://www.youtube.com/my_speed

  • koloc
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    Online Video Not Playing

  • 5 years ago

    You need a faster internet connection at least 5mbps download speed minimum. You have a lag on the buffer under run between the player and the video file. If the connection is fast then it will stream smoothly due to real time synchronization.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Add RAM

    Good Internet connection

    and Use a good PC optimizer and Registry cleaner such as Reginout to make your computer faster

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 4 years ago

    normally i watch a lot of television set but i really do love a good reserve if i enter the book i wont place it down and i really like that i reach use my creativeness a lot more than with a tv

  • mary
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    As far as books that have movies, the literature aren't limited by a set timeframe and thus can go into a lot more depth a feature duration movie could. Movies conclude very different from the book sometimes

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Hi,

    get Adobe Falsh Player for free here http://bit.ly/1p3OXPR

    Adobe Flash Player is the solution if you see a black screen while you 're watching videos, or if you have other problems watching them on Youtube or on Facebook.

    good luck.

  • 1 decade ago

    Its not your memory. Its your connection that is slow. I do not know which browser you are using. But if u are using internet explorer I suggest you switch to google chrome. Which is lighter and thats why a bit faster.

  • 1 decade ago

    getting a faster connection will help...

    else.. it could be due to high traffic.

    Try watching it during off peak hours, the video will be smoother.

    By the way, you could watch it offline smoothly... try using "ZILLA TUBE" .

    It works very well - http://www.zillatube.com/

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.