Speed and Safety with Opera Web Browser

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The pera Browser shows impressive speed for Browsing.  Along with speed is a concern for safety.  The Web of Trust that allows you to check on the safety and the communities rating of different websites before visiting is a wonderful tool.  It is an easy Add-On for the Mozilla Firefox browser and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer .  There is a way to add the features of WOT to the Opera Browser that require moderate computer knowledge:

1. First download the Opera Browser from the link above (left-click on the “O” above) and install it.
2. Go to this ExtendOpera link and keep the current Browser open to this web-page.
3. Next, create a Folder on the computer either; under where the DOCUMENTS are located or another location on the primary hard-drive.
4. Open Notepad.  In Windows XP, left-click , left-click on RUN… and type in NOTEPAD, press ENTER.  In Windows Vista or 7, left-click the Windows Symbol and in the search box that appears type in NOTEPAD, press ENTER.
5. Return to the Web Page opened in step 2, and there is a link “WOT.js“.  Left-Click on it and text page will appear, Left-Click once on the web page and press & hold the CTRL key followed by the A key and release.  ALL of the text will high-light.
6. Copy & Paste the text into the open NOTEPAD.
7. Save the NOTEPAD file as something like MYWOT.js or OPERAWOT.js or any other name as long as the filename ends in “.js” in the file location that was created in step 3.
8. In the Opera Browser left-click on  file, preferences, advanced, content, Javascript Options and Browse to the Java file location created in step 7 and lef-click okay all the way out.

Restart the Opera Browser and the familiar WOT donuts should appear next to Web Site Links.  For those new to WOT the community of Internet Users (Millions) rate different web-sites and those that have good policies tend to receive a GREEN donut, unrated web-sites are GREY and those with problems or Malware web-sites appear as YELLOW or RED donuts and should normally be avoided.

Old Java is Not Good for Computer Security

All Software needs to be up-to-date to maintain security.  This rule applies with exclamation points to Java Software, created by Sun Microsystems, that is a popular language used by web-site designers and software developers.  As versions are released the earlier versions are not always automatically removed.  This is to be avoided to eliminate a potential security hole that hackers might exploit.

Revo Uninstaller,  CNET link, is the free program of choice recommended for removing programs because it creates a restore point on the computer in case there are problems.  Download and install to the computer.  If some of these terms and procedures are new for you please check out the information available through the main web-site located via the About Page.  For a Windows XP computer with a Limited User account you can use the “Run as …” command as explained in the Book and also in this Ezine Article.

These are the steps to follow;

1. Download the Java Software, Sun’s Java, to the desktop or any location you select but do not install.
2. Start the Revo Uninstaller program and wait for the listing of programs installed on the computer to finish.
3. Look for entries starting with Java or J2SE.
4. Right-click on one of these, select the uninstall option, confirm it if asked, and select the advanced mode to start the 4 part operation.a & b. The restore point will be created and a analysis will be completed.

   c. Once the default utility starts, navigate the series of questions via the “next” buttons, select the “Remove” option when asked and the “finish” button at the end.

   d.  The “next” button will be gray until each scan completes so click it when it activates.  Once the registry scan is performed, at the following screen, choose “Select All”, “Delete” and “Yes”.

5. Repeat this process for each Java listing.

Once all earlier versions are removed make sure all software and especially any Internet Browsers are closed before proceeding.   Install the latest version downloaded in step 1 above and restart the computer when done.  That’s it!  If this was helpful to you please pass this on.

In case you prefer, another way to follow us is on Twitter.

Windows XP – Implementing the Limited User Account the Easy Way!

If you have read the Block the Hacker series we published via Ezine Articles you will also want to check out the latest installment HERE.

Also, stay tuned for the Java Article to keep improving the computers security.