The browser should pick up the new version information from the server and display an update window right away. A click on Download and Install updates the browser to the latest version.

Opera 11.61 is a stability and security upgrade, which makes it a recommended update for all Opera users. Two security issues are fixed in the new version, one that allowed manipulation of framed content to allow cross-site scripting, and another were script events “could be used to reveal the presence of local files”.

The change log lists about 50 additional changes and fixes that went into the new version of the browser. This includes several crash related fixes, including the following ones:

• Crash when clicking “Use master password to protect saved passwords” checkbox
• Occasional crash when clicking a link or opening a new tab
• Opera crashes when closing a tab that has the Star Menu opened
• Opera crashes on updating mail from version 9.27
• Crash in host resolver when closing browser after loading large number of tabs simultaneously

Interested users can access all change logs on this page. Opera 11.61 has been released for all supported operating systems. New users and those who do not want to use the internal updater can download the latest version of the browser from the official Opera download page. It is suggested to update as soon as possible to fix the security vulnerabilities in the browser.

The new version of Opera 11.60 is already available on the official Opera website. Existing Opera users can consult the release notes for their operating system to find out what’s new in the release.

When you look at the changes you will notice that Opera has packed a lot of them in the release. Opera Mail users will find that the mail client has received a redesigned interface. New features include automatic mail grouping by date, pinning of messages which corresponds to Imap’s flagged feature and Gmail’s starred message feature, a new settings dialog and two lined message lists.

New HTML5 and CSS technologies have been implemented in the browser. This includes the HTML5 parsing algorithm, HTML5 audio and video attributes such as preload or muted, HTML5 microdata support, HTML5 custom scheme and content handler support, ECMA Script 5.1 support, XMLHttpRequest Level 2 support, full support for radial-gradient and repeated-radial-gradiant as well as support for applying image-rendering properties to HTML contents.

Dozens of bugs and issues have been fixed in Opera 11.60. This includes problems opening the Google Mail inbox, a mouse gestures crash, a 100% cpu usage on subpages of the Cisco domain or an inline find crash.

The security section lists five security related issues that have been fixed in the new version of the web browser.

It is recommended to upgrade Opera stable versions to the latest version as soon as possible.

You can read the announcement over at the Opera Desktop Team blog.

Mail improvements and changes have been implemented into the latest snapshot build of Opera 11.60. Snapshot builds are Opera versions released for testing and bug finding. While they usually work fine they are not suitable for productive environments.

Please note that the released snapshot build will upgrade existing Opera stable builds by default. Users who want to install the snapshot for testing purposes should click on Options and select a different home directory to avoid this. (One option would be to select the Stand-aline installation in the advanced options).

Probably the biggest change in this release apart from the cleaned up look is the new two-lined message list.

The new layout displays three mail columns when Opera Mail is opened. First the Opera Mail message, feeds and attachment listing on the left, then the actual messages from the selected mail folder and after that the selected message.

Users who do not like the change can switch back to list only or list and message below views easily.

Mails are now also automatically grouped by date. This can be switched as well to status, label, size or subject sorting, and grouping by read status, flag or date.

Another interesting new feature is the ability to pin important messages in Opera Mail. That’s handy if you need to reply to an important message but cannot do so right away, or if you need to access contents of a mail regularly. The pin message button appears in the message’s header and as a small dot next to the message listing.

Interested computer users can download the latest Opera 11.60 snapshot with improved mail module from the announcement over at the Opera Desktop team blog. Downloads are provided for all supported operating systems (which means Windows, Mac and Linux).

The second o-day security issue has received a critical severance rating as it can be used to crash the web browser and execute arbitrary code on the system.

Users running the latest stable version of the Opera web browser, which is 11.51 at the time of writing, should receive automatic updates right away.

It is alternatively possible to check for updates manually by clicking on Opera > Help > Check for Updates. The new version is also available for download at the official Opera website.

The new Opera version comes with stability enhancements as well. Opera 11.52 fixes a issue on YouTube where adjusting the volume on playing HTML5 videos could freeze the web browser. It furthermore fixes a issue where BitTorrent downloads would lead to a crash of the web browser.

It is likely that Opera 11.52 is the last 11.xx version of the browser. The development team has recently released Opera 12 alpha which showed improvements all over the board. The new version introduces new technology support. This includes support for WebGL and full hardware acceleration.

Tech enthusiasts interested in this development version of the browser can download it directly from the Opera desktop team blog.

I ran Opera 12 Alpha through a series of tests and boy did the new version manage to impress. Opera 12 Alpha scored 336 points and 9 bonus points in the HTML5 test, that’s more than Firefox’s 314+9 and a lot more than Microsoft Internet Explorer 9′s 141+5. Only Google Chrome Dev managed to beat Opera by 8 standard points and 6 bonus points.

Opera still trails behind in the Peacekeeper benchmark when compared to the most recent Chrome Dev version, at least on a fairly standard Intel Core i7 system running Windows 7 Professional (Ghacks reader Matthew mailed me on the other hand stating that Opera beat Chromes run by nearly a factor of 2. Then again, he failed to mention the Chrome version tested).

This version of Opera has full hardware acceleration support. The browser is set to auto detect hardware acceleration capabilities of the graphics card. Opera notes that support works best if graphics card drivers are the most recent and that users may experience bugs in the alpha release.

Users who want to disable – or force – full hardware acceleration support in the browser need to open opera:config in the browser and filter for EnableHardwareAcceleration to disable (0), auto-detect (1) or force (2) hardware acceleration in the browser. Similar settings are available for the WebGL. Users need to filter for EnableWebGL to turn it off (0), auto-detect (1) or force on (2) the technology.

You can check if hardware acceleration is enabled in your version of Opera by loading the opera:gpu page in the web browser. If you see Vega backend: Software it is not enabled. Hardware acceleration uses a OpenGL backend currently. Opera has announced that support for DirectX will be implemented at a later time in the browser.

The developers have added new personalization features to the browser. Skins have been renamed as themes, and you can download and install a few on the official Opera themes page.

Interested users can download Opera 12 Alpha for all supported operating systems from the Opera Desktop Team blog.

Still, Mac users that run the Mac Os 10.7 Lion operating system get support for the new full screen application mode introduced in the OS by Apple.

The changelog lists several crash and stability related fixes. This includes a fix that drops the cpu utilization of Opera’s extension manager and several Speed Dial related crashes on some user systems.

The new version furthermore fixes several usability issues, like toolbar buttons that were no longer showing up in Opera’s user interface.

Opera 11.51 fixes two security issues. First an issue “that could allow unsecured web content to appear secure” and second an undisclosed low severity issue.

The new version of the Opera web browser is already available via the browser’s internal updating mechanism. Users can check for new updates via Opera > Help > Check for Updates. The browser should however pick up the new version automatically by the time of writing.

New users and users who do not want to update the browser via its updating tool can download the latest version from the official Opera website.

The next release as it stands now will be Opera 12.00, a new version that is likely to ship with new features and improvements. This includes speed improvements and better network latency. Opera confirmed that users might see page loading in half the time as before, especially on poor network connections or when connecting to web servers hosted on a different continent.

Opera Software regardless of that is about to release an update for the latest stable version of the Internet browser. You may recall that Opera is currently working on two different versions of the browser: First on Opera 12 the next big release and then on the maintenance release Opera 11.51 which all stable users can update to.

Opera 11.51 will be a maintenance release that improves the browser’s stability on all supported platforms. Opera’s plan is to release Opera 11.51 before the next big version Opera 12.00.

The developers right now have released the release candidate of Opera 11.51 on the official Opera Desktop Team blog. This indicates that a release of the final version of Opera 11.51 is imminent.

The change log lists several crash fixes, for instance a crash on Macs when opening Opera Dragonfly, or a crash on all systems when marking e-mail messages as “not spam”.

Opera users should not expect new features from the release, as it is only being pushed out to resolve issues that users have under Opera 11.50.

It needs to be noted that Opera 11.51 will upgrade Opera 11.50 on the system when installed. The release won’t touch a Opera Next version that is installed on the system.

Most users should probably wait for the final release before they update their web browser. That is, unless they work with Opera and experience one of the issues that version 11.51 fixes.

Opera 11.50 users can download Opera 11.51 Release Candidate from the Opera website.

The developers, always good for a surprise, managed to build a first Opera 12 snapshot about a week after the last Opera stable release.

Interested users and web developers can download the latest snapshot right from the Opera website. Oleg notes that Opera considers this a pre-alpha release which means that you should not upgrade just yet. It is thankfully though very easy to install a second Opera version on the computer system.

Just click on Options on the first installation page and select a different install path to install Opera 12 into a different directory on your system.

You can switch to a stand-alone installation after you have changed the install path.

The release includes “important2 bug fixes and some polishing.

You wont find any new features in this early release, but Opera seems to be already working on new features which will be included in future snapshots of the new browser.

Interested users can take a look at the detailed changelog at the Opera Desktop Team blog. Fixes include some crash issues and freezes, as well as other bugs and unintended behavior.

Downloads are offered directly on the blog as well, as usual for all supported operating systems.

It is good to see that Opera has stepped up their game significantly over the past years. It feels as if the company is non-stop working on new browser versions. Especially communication with the public is excellent, something that both Mozilla and Chrome lack dearly, especially when it comes to snapshot releases (yes Mozilla publishes information but I never quite understood where and when news were posted, and when not).

Opera 11.50 has been in development for quite some time. It has been available for almost the same time as Opera Next, a snapshot build that highlighted the features for developers and first movers.

You will immediately notice that the developers have changed the looks of the browser significantly in this release. We talked about this in detail a few days ago.

Users are greeted by new toolbar icon sets, rounded corners, lighter softer colors and an overall more pleasant, integrated look.

But this release is not only about the interface or cosmetic changes. Opera 11.50 introduces a dynamic new tab page. Opera users can now install Speed Dial extensions, for instance to display a weather report, RSS feed, news or stock market information right on that page. They find all available Speed Dial extensions here.

Opera Software has improved the rendering engine of Opera 11.50. According to them, it is now up to 20% faster when rendering CSS and SVG. It also supports the new HTML5 tag time and password synchronization.

Opera notes on the official changelog that Opera 11.50 “is a recommended upgrade offering new and improved features, plus security and stability enhancements”. Opera users who run Opera 11.11 currently can check for updates with a click on Opera > Help > Check for Updates.

New users can download the latest version of Opera from the official homepage. It is available for all supported operating systems and languages.

Project Featherweight consists of several phases of which the first has been first has been made available in the new development build.

The general idea behind Featherweight is to make “Opera as light, bright and user-friendly as possible” without losing the browser’s flexibility interface wise.

Users who install the new build will instantly see some of the differences compared to previous Opera versions. I have created two screenshots, the first showing the old Opera interface, the second the new interface of the latest Opera Next build.

The Opera Next button, and other elements of the interface resemble that of the Firefox browser now. The toolbar icon set has been completely revamped, and users will notice the softer background and border colors immediately.

Users may also notice the new status bar design, which now integrates the Opera Link, Opera Unite and Opera Turbo buttons in a less obtrusive manner.

Button borders have been removed from the Opera address bar, and the home and fast forward buttons have been made optional, meaning that users who want them back need to add them through customizations.

A right-click and the selection of customize > Appearance opens the configuration menu where toolbars and buttons can be added to the Opera interface. New buttons are simply added via drag and drop. They become visible and accessible immediately afterwards in the interface.

The new interface has been made available for all Windows, OS X and Unix versions of the browser. Interested users can download the latest snapshot build from the Opera Desktop Team blog. Opera Next can be installed next to an existing version of Opera.

This is a security and stability upgrade. Opera users are therefor encouraged to update their version of Opera as soon as possible to improve the stability and security of their browser.

The changelog lists several crash fixes and a single security issue.

Fixed an issue with framesets that could allow execution of arbitrary code

Some fixes of Opera 11.11 are site related, including fixes for Wikipedia, Google Calendar, Falk.de and sites that are using a specific certificate.

The internal update checker may not be able to pick up the new version right away. It is therefor recommended to check for updates manually in the web browser.

You do that with a click on Menu > Help > Check for Updates.

Opera had problems identifying my client version, and offered downloads of the desktop and mobile version of Opera.

You only have to select Download and Install if you get that screen as well. It is not necessary to make a choice on the screen.

Make sure you check the version after installation of the update. You can do that with a click on the Menu and the selection of Help > About Opera, or by entering opera:about in the Opera address bar and pressing enter afterwards.

Speed Dial basically displays a thumbnail list of the user’s favorite websites on the new tab page. This improves the usability and accessibility as it is now possible to open those websites with a single click on the new tab page.

The new and improved speed dial is “more fluid, dynamic and easier to use” says software developer Cezary Kułakowski in a blog post over at the Opera Desktop Team blog.

What does he mean by that? Probably the biggest difference is that website thumbnails are now placed dynamically on the new tab page, they adjust their size and position automatically based on the open Opera window and user preferences.

Opera has also done away with the hard coded website limit which means that it is now possible to display more websites on the new tab page. A scroll bar is automatically added when the size of the website thumbnails exceeds the available window space.

New websites are added to Speed Dial with a click on the plus icon on the last website thumbnail on the Opera Speed Dial page.

Users can add websites that they visit frequently (top ten) or open websites. An option to add sites from the bookmarks would have been handy.

Users can furthermore configure Opera Speed Dial by right-clicking on the page and selecting Configure Speed Dial or Appearance.

The Configure Speed Dial menu offers options to hide speed dial, change the background image to a custom one from the local computer and select the way the thumbnails are displayed on the page.

The new Opera Speed Dial will be integrated into the upcoming Opera 11.10 and future versions of the web browser. Interested users can download the latest snapshot of Opera 11.10 from the Opera Desktop Team blog posting. They should check the known issues first before they update existing versions of Opera. It is however possible to install the snapshot build in a different location. The snapshot of the browser is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Opera Core has been upgraded from version 2.7.62 to 2.8.99 which marks a huge step. The new core supports the implementation of the Web Open Font Format and several compatibility changes that makes the web browser “more” compatible with other web browsers.

Many of the changes are technical in nature, for instance that TLS 1.1 and 1.2 are disabled by default. The essence however is that Opera is improving the web browsers compatibility which is one of the main points of criticism directed towards it.

The changelog lists hundreds of Core fixes, including several memory leak and crash fixes and other improvements that increase the web browser’s stability, performance and reliability. Frequent crashes on Facebook, Hotmail, Live Mail and Google Docs that plagued Mac users in the past have also been fixed.

The snapshot is as usually available for all supported operating systems. Users should check the known issues before they install it. Please remember that snapshot builds are not suited for productive environments.

Opera Software has released Opera 10.63 a few minutes ago. The new web browser release is a recommended upgrade offering security and stability enhancements. This falls in line with the classification of the two development strains.

Opera 10.60 users are asked to update to the latest version of the web browser as soon as possible to fix the security and stability issues.

The easiest way to update is to click on Menu > Help > Check for Updates and follow the onscreen instructions from there.

opera 10.63 update notification

Interested Opera users can take a closer look at the fixes introduced in Opera 10.63 at the official changelog page.

Crash when removing custom settings folders
Start Bar being blanked out after opening a background tab
Opera Unite Messenger application not loading
Crash when saving a file while the page redirects
Crash after leaving a page containing Flash with wmode=”transparent”
Using Opera Link, bookmarks dragged out of the Opera Mini folder are recreated when sent as added in the Opera Mini folder again
Opera Link freezing on startup
Fallback to a second address being very slow
Reloading pages give multiple unclosable download dialogs
Menus being as high as the screen and nearly empty
Crash when viewing the bookmark menu

Handling of Content-Disposition extended parameters
Memory corruption when using SVG in an element
Several JavaScript-related issues, including one with Yahoo! Mail Classic
A mouse focus problem related to plug-ins
Incorrect compilation to native code leads to wrong arithmetic results
Crash when assigning data or src attribute on a focused and highlighted <input> element with dirty layout
JavaScript alerts opening shortly after a page loads close instantly

Added search suggestions from Baidu
100% CPU usage occurring when starting Opera
Crash when opening a file with Content-Disposition: attachment directly in Opera

Fixed an issue that allowed cross-domain checks to be bypassed, allowing limited data theft using CSS, as reported by Isaac Dawson; see our advisory.
Fixed an issue where manipulating the window could be used to spoof the page address; see our advisory.
Fixed an issue with reloads and redirects that could allow spoofing and cross-site scripting; see our advisory.
Fixed an issue that allowed private video streams to be intercepted, as reported by Nirankush Panchbhai of Microsoft Vulnerability Research; see our advisory.
Fixed an issue that caused JavaScript to run in the wrong security context after manual interaction; see our advisory.

Opera 10.63 is also available as a direct download directly at the Opera.com website.

Opera 10.62 is a security and stability update, and therefor recommended for all users of the 10.6x branch. This release fixes for instance the recently discovered dll hijack vulnerability in Windows. The majority of enhancements improves the stability of the browser. The team has fixed several issues where Opera would unexpectedly close, for instance when searching on websites or while viewing bodyless documents in accessibility mode.

The team has also fixed the missing images bug in free previews and added fastmail and hotmail UK to the email auto configuration in Opera Mail.

Interested users can take a closer look at the changelogs, which are linked from the announcement post over at the desktop team blog.

Opera 10.62 is as usual available for all supported operating systems. Downloads are provided at the Opera website. Users who are already running a version of Opera 10.6x can also update the browser by clicking on Help > Check for Updates.

The release notes of the new Opera version list several changes since Opera 10.60, among them three security fixes that prevent the execution of arbitrary code, programs and the automatic subscription to news feeds in the preview feed view.

opera 10.61

Several additional fixes have been introduced to the display and scripting functionality of the browser. This includes Google Calendar compatibility, something that many Opera users have been waiting for. Other fixes in this category include fixing disk cache not working properly in turbo mode, proper handling of binary files (which have been handled as plain text files), widget changes so that they will all run and have network access after restarts, and blocking Opera Unite from listening on UDP port 1900 if UPnP service discovery has been set to off.

Finally, changes have been introduced to the Opera user interface as well, most notably a fix to prevent high CPU usage when loading animated png images in the browser, preventing Opera Windows from overwriting saved search preferences during installation and changing the default cookie behavior to accept all cookies.

User interface

Changed

* “Fraud Protection” renamed to “Fraud and Malware Protection”

Fixed

* Relative paths not working in the Filename setting for Speed Dial background
* Premature shutdown when using vBulletin’s WYSIWYG editor
* Loading an animated png causes high CPU usage with no response from the browser
* yahoo.cn mailproviders SMTP entry not using a submission port
* Changing the default cookie preference to “Accept all cookies”
* Installing Opera 10.60 windows overwrites saved search preferences

Display and Scripting

Fixed

* Google Calendar compatibility
* Unite listening on UDP 1900 even if UPnP service discovery is off
* Several cases where widgets will not run
* Premature shutdown when loading qq.com
* Setting the onload property of XMLHttpRequest blocks document memory from being garbage collected
* Opera treating binary files as plain text (opening it in the browser instead of showing a download dialog)
* Premature shutdown when loading the Canvas demo
* Printing from print preview results in either a freeze or corrupted page
* Widgets not having access to a network after restart
* “Accept cookies” and “only from the site I visit” settings being incorrect in Preferences dialog
* Premature shutdown occurring on startup of Opera under Windows 98
* Disk cache not working correctly in turbo mode

Security

Fixes

* Fixed an issue where heap buffer overflow in HTML5 canvas could be used to execute arbitrary code, as reported by Kuzzcc; see our advisory.
* Fixed an issue where unexpected changes in tab focus could be used to run programs from the Internet, as reported by Jakob Balle and Sven Krewitt of Secunia; see our advisory.
* Fixed an issue where news feed preview could subscribe to feeds without interaction, as reported by Alexios Fakos; see our advisory.

Opera 10.61 is already available for download at the Opera website. Opera 10.60 users can click on Menu > Help > Check for Updates to download and install the new version from within the web browser. Both downloads throw an error message currently. It is likely that this is only a temporary situation.

Opera users can expect improvements in all areas but most noticeably in browser performance and web standard support.

The final version of Opera 10.60 continues to shine in web browser benchmarks like Peacekeeper often surpassing other fast web browsers like Google Chrome.

opera1060 speed

Opera 10.60 is one of the fastest web browsers available. This is confirmed by benchmarks but also by the subjective impression of page loading times in the browser.

opera1060

The browser scores 100 of 100 in the Acid 3 test and has added several HTML5 features and elements to its arsenal.

Opera 10.60 now supports for instance HTML5 video (WebM), offline web applications, geolocation and web workers. Take a look at Opera 10.60 Beta Released, Fastest Browser Gets Even Faster for an in depth review of Opera 10.60.

opera html5 video

It is now possible to join the Youtube HTML5 beta to view videos on the popular video hosting site without Adobe Flash installed.

Interface elements have been improved slightly, the menu button has been changed to make its functionality clearer to the user. Several icons have been changed or added as well but the design of the browser is overall pretty similar to that of the Opera 10.50 branch.

Search suggestions have been added for selected providers, improving the search experience of Opera users. Google Search is still the default search provider in Opera but Bing has been added to the list of available providers to offer users additional choices.

Opera 10.60 is already available for download at the official Opera website. It is available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh systems. The internal update checker has not picked up the new version yet.

Opera performs very well in popular web browser benchmarks, how well usually depends on the benchmark. It is fair to say that Opera 10.60 will rank fairly high in all of them except those that benefit from hardware acceleration.

The developers have released a series of snapshot releases and a beta release before the release candidate was released.

opera 10.60

These snapshot releases included lots of stability and performance improvements but also added support for several HTML5 web technologies like HTML5 Video, Geolocation, Offline Web Applications, Cross-Document Messaging or Web Workers.

The release candidate actually continued the stability work by fixing several crash issues. Opera 10.60 RC1 has been released for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh and Linux systems.

The developers are still looking for major new issues that they have overlooked so far. It is likely that these major issues would then be fixed in upcoming release candidates.

Check out the blog posting over at the Opera Desktop Team blog for additional information and download links.

The announcement at the Opera Desktop Team blog does not go into detail, stating that Opera 10.54 is a “recommended security update” for Mac and Windows systems.

The change log for Windows lists the fixed security vulnerabilities, among them an extremely severe issue.

• Prevented Opera from being used as a vector for a font issue in the underlying operating system, as reported by Microsoft’s security team
• Fixed an extremely severe issue; details will be disclosed at a later date.
• Fixed a highly severe issue; details will be disclosed at a later date.
• Fixed a moderately severe issue; details will be disclosed at a later date.
• Fixed a less severe issue; details will be disclosed at a later date.

No details were disclosed at this time, most likely to give Opera users enough time to update their web browser to prevent exploitation of the issues.

Opera 10.x users can update the web browser by clicking on Menu > Help > Check for Updates in the web browser. Downloads are also available directly at the Opera website.

The release of the highly acclaimed Opera 10.50 did not seem to have slowed down the developers who have now made available the first beta of the upcoming Opera 10.60.

Opera 10.60 snapshot users can update the browser to the beta release by clicking on the menu button at the top, then Help and Check for Updates.

opera10 60

Everyone else can download the beta of Opera 10.60 at Opera Next.

The new release increases the HTML5 capabilities of the Opera browser. Opera 10.60 beta gains 30 points and 3 bonus points in the beta HTML5 test that we conducted 10 days ago. Opera closes in on Google Chrome which scored 212 points and surpasses the Firefox 3.6.4 browser by 20 points making it the second most HTML5 compatible browser available.

Four new HTML5 features have been added to the beta version of Opera 10.60, they are:

• WebM support for HTML5 video (demo)
• HTML5 offline web applications (demo)
• Gelocation (demo, only partially implemented on Linux at this time)
• Web Workers (demo)

In addition to those four HTML5 features a fifth, Cross-Document Messaging, received a major update in this Opera release.

The developers have improved further on the speed and compatibility of the browser. Opera 10.60 beta beats the latest dev version of Google Chrome by more than 700 points on our test system (Google Chrome 6, 9003 points, Opera 10.60 Beta, 9743 points) in the Peacekeeper browser benchmark.

It is safe to say that Opera 10.60 is currently the fastest browser with a reasonable market share on the planet. The developers have promised to increase the HTML5 capabilities of the browser in future releases. We keep you posted on these as well. You might want to check out the Ghacks web browser forum where the latest cutting edge snapshots of Opera are posted.