Opera (NASDAQ: OPRA), one of the world’s leading browser providers,
has just added a new tracker blocker, which speeds up web browsing
by almost 20 percent. The new feature compliments Opera’s set of
existing privacy-enhancing features including an ad blocker and a
free, unlimited VPN. The company is also introducing improvements
to the Snapshot tool which make taking and sharing screenshots more
fun.
Whenever you use the Web, you leave a trace - websites tend to
follow your every click. Some of the traces you leave are good for
you, making websites more tailored to your needs, but there is also
a lot of tracking taking place online that you might not be aware
of.
Throughout a day of web browsing, you typically stumble upon
hundreds of trackers which gather information and track your online
behavior while remaining invisible to you. Trackers also slow you
down as they make websites take more time to load. With this
release, Opera allows you to block web trackers and browse
faster.
The tracker blocker improves your privacy and speeds up
your browsing
“Once you’ve looked for a product on a website, that product
tends to follow you around to other websites in the form of
personalized ads or behavioral tracking. We’ve decided to help our
users understand and manage this situation by putting them in
control of the data they share with websites,” said Joanna Czajka,
product manager of the Opera PC browser.
According to the MIT technology review, the average American
spends 24 hours a week online. That’s a lot of time spent waiting
for websites to load.
“People should be aware that they can save a lot of time simply
by switching on the tracker blocker,” added Joanna Czajka.
Opera’s new tracker blocker can be switched on in the Easy setup
menu or in the browser’s settings. Once you switch it on, a shield
icon appears in the address bar where you can easily see the amount
of trackers being blocked and toggle the feature on and off per
site.
The tracker blocker relies on the EasyPrivacy Tracking
Protection List. It works similarly to Opera’s native ad blocker;
it has a list of known tracker scripts and blocks them. Once
switched on, the tracker blocker can speed up page loading by
roughly 20 percent. Coupled with Opera’s built-in ad blocker, the
speed gain can reach up to 23 percent. These features also increase
the users’ level of privacy.
Off by default, these two features remain at people’s discretion
to be switched on. They can also be disabled for individual
websites, for example, when a publisher requires that they do so in
order to access their content.
“We consider the tracker blocker to be a browser feature which
can be kept on at all times. Our browser, however, also has plenty
of extended privacy features which come in handy when someone feels
the need to increase the privacy of their browsing even further,”
added Joanna Czajka.
Opera offers free, unlimited, no-log VPN
The Opera browser has been the first and only one to offer a
free, unlimited, no-log browser VPN. Introduced 3 years ago, the
built in VPN hides the user’s location and IP address from websites
by creating a virtual location for them. When turned on, the
browser VPN creates a secure connection to one of Opera’s server
locations around the world. The VPN lets people choose where to
appear on the internet, giving their online privacy and security a
boost.
Opera does not log any information related to the users’
browsing activity or their originating network address while they
use it.
The browser VPN is also an important security feature which
protects people while using public Wi-Fi networks (e.g. while
traveling), as it blocks third parties from seeing which websites
they are accessing.
Enhanced Snapshot tool lets you take screenshots inside
the browser and turn them into memes
Besides enhancing the privacy level and speed, Opera has also
made the browser more fun.
The Snapshot tool (accessible from the camera icon on the right
end of the address bar) lets the user take a screenshot of any
website, edit, copy and paste it- directly from the browser,
without the need to look for the file on the computer’s hard
drive.
It now comes with new functionalities. Once you click it (or
activate it with the Control+Shift+2 keyboard shortcut), you can
save a website directly to PDF or capture the entire webpage all
the way to the bottom. You can also crop out part of a website,
capture it and then customize it. The blurring function and the
drawing tool have also been improved. The latter detects whenever
you want to mark something on the image you just took a screenshot
of and makes the lines you draw smoother. It also detects when you
want to draw a circle, triangle or rectangle and makes this task
easier.
The Snapshot tool now also makes it possible to add text in
three fonts, including the Impact one known from memes.
Starting from now, you can also highlight elements with the
highlighter feature and release your creativity by adding a selfie
or one of the new emojis.
About Opera
Opera is a global web innovator. Opera’s browsers, news products
and fintech solutions are the trusted choice of more than 350
million people worldwide. Opera is headquartered in Oslo, Norway
and listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange (OPRA).
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/147dca9a-6d9e-4048-9807-71e8c000a433
Julia Szyndzielorz
Senior PR Manager, Opera
julia.szyndzielorz@gmail.com
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