Tips for Opera WebBrowser

I still use the old 12.15 version of the Opera webbrowser because I prefer classic software GUI design,
ie. with full menues etc. Newer software GUI design is IMO nothing but cr*p, intended for id*ots (ie. for mobile use...).
Ok, you might ask what a webbrowser has todo with trading. I would say: "much. for researching on the net..."

Here are some tips for Opera v12.x I found useful:

- If opera doesn't show _some_ images at all, or shows _some_ images gigantically (for example small smiley icons aka emoticons), then do this:
In Preferences / WebPages disable the "Fit to width" setting.

- One can disable and enable the use of scripts (this is very important because scripts are the most dangerous thing on the web...)

- One can disable and enable the use of plugins, especially the flash plugin...

- One can disable and enable the use of cookies

- One can let Opera delete all cookies automatically at exit (ie. cleaning up)


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The current desktop version is 35, so I have to assume you also still use Windows XP. All the things you listed is available in every other browsers, so welcome to the 21st century!

 

I'm disabling javascript and plugins when going to unknown sites the first time...
If the site works without javascript then the better, otherwise I enable it...
I'm oldschool, static content I find more secure. Of course there are some exceptions like streaming quotes on webpages, if needed...
And generally: if I need for example to view a video in the browser I just enable the plugins.
Ie. doing everything only on demand, only when needed...

 

As said, I don't need all the bells and whistles of newer software. I don't need any Facesh*t or the like... ;-)
That's also the reason why I am here, and not there... ;-)

Yes, I indeed use XP ;-) My main system is Linux, therein I have VirtualBox installed, and therein I run XP
if I need something in Windows, like AmiBroker.
Works like a charm. I enable the network connection in XP only on demand, for example when getting EOD data for AmiBroker.
My realtime trading platform is TWS, and that I run under the Linux part.

 

I forgot to mention the following important point regarding the webbrowser:

Since the webbrowser is the most dangerous "single point of failure" due to its connection to foreign unknown/enemy systems,
then the rest of the local system should be protected from the webbrowser!
Usually webbrowsers run only inside a secure "sandbox", but it is also possible to escape that "safe" environment
by some malicious scripts embedded in web-pages.

Since the webbrowser runs under the same credentials as the logged in user, the webbrowser poses a threat
to privacy because it has access to everything the user has. Ie. data and files can be stolen by remote attackers
via malicious scripting code in the web-pages.

The solution to this problem is this: run the webbrowser under a different user account.
Ie. create a dummy system user account and run the browser only under that user account. See "Run as" in your operating system documentation.

But one has also to ensure that other user accounts don't have access to the home directory of the main user:
just restrict the access permissions to your own home directory, and possibly also to other public and private directories.
Of course one also should not store anything important in that dummy user's home directory.

In my solution I each time have to enter the password of the other (dummy) user to start the (now safe) webbrowser.
The password entry isn't annoying because one exactly knows the reason...

Happy Surfing! ;-)