We’ve been learning all about the Opera browser this week. If you haven’t read our previous articles, check them out at the links below:
Click here to learn how to download and install.
Click here to get started with Opera basics.
Click here for Opera basics part 2.
Now that we’ve got the basics covered, we’re ready to dive down into the more advanced features of Opera. One great feature of Opera is the built-in ad-blocking.
With ad-blocking turned on, web pages load much faster, plus harmful code generated by hackers is often blocked from working. You’ll see this blue badge at the top right when ads are blocked.
Click on it to see which ads are blocked. If ad-blocking is causing any issues with something you need loading, you can turn off ad-blocking for the site by clicking on the button.
Access Ad Blocking by opening Settings. There are two ways to access Settings.
If you have the Settings shortcut on the Sidebar, you can click on the gear icon.
Or click the three-line menu icon at the top right.
Scroll down to the very bottom of the menu that opens and choose Browser settings.
Settings will open.
At the left, you see Basic and Advanced options. We’ll start with the basics.
Your first option is whether or not you want ad-blocking turned on.
Sometimes turning on ad-blocking can prevent something you wish to see from loading. But it’s easy to manage exceptions on a page by page basis. Just click on Manage exceptions.
You’ll see a list of sites that permit pop-ups and other ads. Click Add to include additional sites.
Type in the site you wish to add and click Add.
To remove a site, click the three-dot menu icon next to it.
Then choose Remove.
Your next option is to Manage lists.
Opera browser automatically generates lists like EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and NoCoin. Easy List is the primary ad-blocker. EasyPrivacy blocks tracking cookies. NoCoin prevents bots from mining Cryptocurrency using your device. (If you’re not sure what that means, don’t worry. Just go ahead and turn it on.) The Adblock warning removal list gets rid of warning that tell you adblock is preventing you from seeing certain things on a page, while Malware block is pretty self-explanatory.
There’s also the choice of loading lists in languages besides English.
There’s also an option of loading custom lists.
Various websites offer these lists and they block everything from social widgets to advanced tracking cookies.