New Opera Browser
I read a flowery endorsement of the ‘New Opera Browser’ about a month ago. It was supposed to be the fastest browser around and the Opera programmers had learned their lesson regarding the low regard users have for adware and spyware. This new version of Opera was touted to be the best thing available. Adware and spyware free. So I tried it.
I use several desk top computers and one laptop. The laptop is an ibook so it was not effected by this browser fiasco. My desktops run XP, win98, and various versions of Linux. Only the XP and win98 desktops were effected. Primarily the win98 machines.
After I began using Opera on the win98 machines, these computers had trouble shutting down. There always seemed to be an undisclosed program running in the background that prevented a clean exit. I eventually discovered that I could restore these win98 systems to function normally by removing the Opera browser from the system. Evidently the Opera browser was initiating more than just a browser on startup.
The Opera people have had a long history of pushing adware and spyware onto the unsuspecting. I suspect that characteristic is in their genes and still as virulent as ever.
In retrospect one has to wonder what is in 4megs of software that a clean fast browser would need. That is 4 megs compressed.
Its back to Firefox for me. It might not be as fast or fancy or have a share of flowery endorsements but it does not hang up my win98 machines when I decide to shut them down.