Opera now blocks third party source addon installations
Opera users who try to install an extension in the browser from a third party source website receive a notification for some time now that acts as a warning page. The warning reminds the user that the addon is offered by an untrusted repository, but does not prevent the installation of the add-on itself. A click on ok will install the addon in the browser despite the warning message.
Opera Software today announced that this will change with the coming release of Opera 12.50. The company will replace the warning message with a stricter message that will block the installation outright in the browser to improve security for all of the browser's users. The new message reads:
Installation Blocked
For your safety, you can only install extensions from addons.opera.com.
The only options are to close the dialog or open the Help page which - then but not now - will offer information on how to overcome the issue and install the addon from the untrusted source. Read on to find out how to bypass the restriction right now.
The Opera browser won't display the error message if the site the addon is offered on is added to the list of trusted repositories. Opera users can add any website to the list in the following way:
- A click on the Opera button, and a selection of Settings > Preferences or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-F12
- The selection of Advanced > Security > Trusted Websites
- A click on add to enter a new domain name that addons can be installed from in the browser.
Addon installations are no longer blocked once you have added the domain to the list of trusted repositories. There is an alternative that you can make use of instead if you prefer not to add any domains to the trusted repository listing. Addons that you install from your local PC are not blocked. All you need to do is download the extension to your local PC and drag and drop the downloaded extension into the browser to install it.
Opera is not the only browser manufacturer that has recently made it more difficulty for users to install extensions from third party sources. Google introduced a similar limitation for its Chrome browser in June 2012.
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Caution… add-ons are usually beneficial for the browsing business. There have probably been problems posted by users that turned out to be faulty add-ons. WOT and Virustotal before installing.