Thread: Why you should be using Opera Browser

Opera is a browser based on the Chrome engine and it has built in features that are great for privacy and security.

It has a free VPN built in with unlimited usage. It has a built in ad blocker and tracker blocker. It also has DNS over TLS which means your DNS queries are sent through a secure channel and can't be tracked. If you don't know what this means, I can explain.

But, it can also support Chrome extensions. I don't use the built in ad blocker or tracker blockers, I use Ghostery and uBlock Origin for that. I also use an extension that masks my user agent, so it looks like I'm using different browsers all the time and that makes it hard to track. I also use a referral blocking extension, so any link I click on, it hides where it came from. There's a bunch of other extensions I use for privacy, adblocking and annoyance reducing which I can post if anyone is interested.

But you can download Opera browser for free at Opera Web Browser | Faster, Safer, Smarter | Opera

Also, I forget to mention, you can use the private search engines like DuckDuckGo or StartPage in the browser to have completely private search history. StartPage even has it's own 'VPN' type service, where you can click on a link and it will browse to the page through StartPage's own proxy so you can browse totally anonymously.

Seriously? How did I not know this and I'm a network engineer/sys admin.. I dont really like the layout of it, at least for my shop we implement chrome via gpo for every client.

I use torguard when i browse the dark web or do private stuff..

Originally Posted by theblank

Seriously? How did I not know this and I'm a network engineer/sys admin.. I dont really like the layout of it, at least for my shop we implement chrome via gpo for every client.

I use torguard when i browse the dark web or do private stuff..

They have different themes on the Opera addons site you can use if you don't like the layout.
Search - Opera add-ons

Having used it long enough, I prefer the layout and it's almost exactly like Chrome, is based on the Chrome engine, and can install Chrome extensions, but it just has those additional layers of privacy that make it superior to Chrome. Their engine is called Blink and Google recently came out and said they're going to start limiting the usage of adblockers in Chrome (since Google's core business is advertising), but Opera has come out and said they're going to continue allowing adblockers in their modified Blink engine.

I personally use WindScribe as my main VPN. I download a lot of torrents, so I find the need to use a VPN outside of the browser handy. But, there's always also just the TOR network, which I was going to make another post about here in the near future, detailing how to use perfect OPSEC (Operational Security) to browse 100% anonymously and leave no traces behind. Look forward to that, I'll post it in this section.