I'm rebuilding my desktop (don't ask) and, after re-installing Opera, I suffered the following error message when starting the application:
"Error While Initializing Mail There was a problem initializing Opera Mail. Not possible to run old Opera version with new Opera mail files."
A simple fix (if you don't use Opera mail!) is to delete the Opera Mail directory. Simply navigate to /home/[username]/.opera and delete the mail directory.
In his essay, Safe Personal Computing, Bruce Schneier informs us that he uses Opera as his web browser. That's as good a reason as any to choose Opera - here's another one.
The Register is reporting that:
"Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol that allows attackers to silently decrypt data that's passing between a webserver and an end-user browser."
In essence, the researchers (Thai Duong and Juliano Rizzo) intercept and decipher the authentication cookie on a secure connection: They plan to demonstrate the attack later this week at the Ekoparty Security Conference.
The attack is only effective against earlier versions of the TLS protocol; TLS1.2 is impervious to the attack. Few browsers support TLS1.2 by default, so few websites have switched to the protocol - a vicious circle! However, there is one browser that does support TLS 1.2 by design:
"While both Mozilla and the volunteers maintaining OpenSSL have yet to implement TLS 1.2 at all, Microsoft has performed only slightly better. Secure TLS versions are available in its Internet Explorer browser and IIS webserver, but not by default. Opera remains the only browser that deploys TLS 1.2 by default."
Whilst switching to Opera makes no difference to users' security if the majority of websites eschew the latest security protocols, this story does show that the Opera developers design-in the latest security and that is another good reason to switch.
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Although I'm very impressed with the look, feel, and speed of Opera 11.50, I would be the first to acknowledge that, unlike most of the other browsers on offer, configuring it to work as you want cannot be described as an intuitive process.
In one way this is no bad thing; it encourages you to explore the features and potential of the application. On the other hand, I'm four days into my Opera experience and I'm only just getting it to do what I expect it to do!
For instance, take something as simple as changing focus to a new tab - in most browsers the option to switch to a new tab automatically is easily found in the preferences menu (in Firefox 5.0, it's the last option in the Tabs preferences!) but there is no such option in Opera. Moreover, I've had to get used to opening links by clicking the scroll wheel on my mouse rather than left-clicking an embedded link. However, you can configure Opera to switch to a new tab automatically (even from the Speed Dial page), albeit by using your mouse's middle button or scroll wheel:
Now all you have to do is to remember to click the middle button!
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If you want Opera to open with multiple start (home) pages, the solution is easy:
That's it! You can even use Speed Dial as one of your home pages using sessions.
Hint: the pages open in the same tab order as they are saved, so, if you have a preference for the page order, drag your tabs into the order that you want them to open before saving your session.
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The news that Mozilla has released a new version of Firefox hasn't tempted me away from Chrome; but, something else has persuaded me to change my browser!
Recently, page loads in Chrome have got slower and slower and it seems that this is neither a new problem, nor is it attributable to a single reason. After enduring the rather cryptic sending request error message for a few days, I thought I'd take the opportunity to see how Opera performs on Ubuntu. This move isn't entirely a leap in the dark, I'm already a regular Opera user - it's the primary browser on my iPAQ hx2790!
I've always liked the speed dial page in Opera Mini and, in my opinion, text rendering has always been superior to Firefox. So, this weekend I downloaded Opera 11.50 and gave it a whirl on my Ubuntu machines.
It's taken a day or so to get used to the way the browser works and shortcuts aren't as intuitive as I would like. Moreover, online help is not as readily available as it is with other browsers and this dearth of expertize is probably a reflection of the minuscule market share (estimated at around 2.3%) that Opera enjoys. However, Opera is probably the quickest browser that I've used (particularly with the Turbo function enabled) and text rendering is as stunning on the desktop version as it is on the WinMob application!
If you are tempted to give Opera a try, here's a couple of tips:
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