Does anyone know what's up with that? Couldn't find anything via Google. Seems really fishy to me.
Edit: Got the official explanation from the dev on Reddit:
AutoClick Feature of JDownloader works as following. Open the browser and wait few seconds, then take screenshot and search for the Recaptcha click area and auto click on it. Screenshot is needed so JDownloader knows where to click. You can disable this feature, see https://support.jdownloader.org/de/knowledgebase/article/jd-opens-my-browser-to-display-captchas
On Linux, JDownloader creates screenshot to find out the color of tray area so it can try to find it's tray icon and calculate the correct background color for transparency. You see the JDownloader icon having white background. You can disable this via Settings->Advanced Settings->Tray.gnometrayicontransparentenabled
you ... installed the JackassDownloader !!?!
maybe check your routers and pc's dns settings, if you have a router from your provider, maybe its outdated as hell and jdownloaders updater got redirected by someone who hijacked it?
This is off topic to OP, but can you please elaborate on Jackass downloader comment? I’ve been using jD2 for literal years now and have yet to find an alternative that works as well, especially for a large amount of link crawls from a single clipboard. What is the issue with it, and what would your suggested alternative be?
JD2 is fine, nothing wrong with it. smb meant that op might have gotten his installation hijacked by an attack, essentially replacing his legit install with malware.