How to change your browser ID within Opera

[rif]

rif last edited by

I'm sure we've all run across sites that "Don't work" in Opera. Usually (But not always) because of the browser ID string.

Well I just signed up for Hulu and it wouldn't work in Opera so no big deal, it worked in Chrome and I was happy.

I mentioned this to my daughter and she said she got it to work in Opera! I was pleasantly shocked. I guess
she's more tech savvy then I realized!

Here's how

1. Right click on page and choose "Inspect element."
2. Click 3 vertical dots in upper right corner, "More tools, Network conditions."
3. Uncheck "Select automatically.
4. Click on the box right below that and choose your Browser ID string.
5. Refresh the page you had trouble with! I use Shift-F5

She said she found this on a Reddit page.

[A Former User]

A Former User @rif last edited by

Oo-err!

[browzer1]

browzer1 @rif last edited by

@rif ... Does this not change the Opera "statistics" on web browsing? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @browzer1 last edited by

@browzer1 said in How to change your browser ID within Opera:

@rif ... Does this not change the Opera "statistics" on web browsing? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Yes, it does affect the usage stats. If a user can access a site by changing the browser ID, it's a good thing for him in gaining access to the site... but it's not a good thing for Opera's market share stats. The ideal would be for websites to respect and operate properly with Opera's genuine user-agent string or respond to user complaints if they don't. But all too often, that's not how the online world seems to operate...

[burnout426]

burnout426 Volunteer last edited by

https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/user-agent-switcher-5/ is a good extension for doing this.

There's also this extension for masking as Chrome on all sites with no config. Good for testing.

[rif]

rif @blackbird71 last edited by

@blackbird71 said in How to change your browser ID within Opera:

@browzer1 said in How to change your browser ID within Opera:

@rif ... Does this not change the Opera "statistics" on web browsing? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Yes, it does affect the usage stats. If a user can access a site by changing the browser ID, it's a good thing for him in gaining access to the site... but it's not a good thing for Opera's market share stats. The ideal would be for websites to respect and operate properly with Opera's genuine user-agent string or respond to user complaints if they don't. But all too often, that's not how the online world seems to operate...

Exactly. Ever try to email a big company such as Hulu and tell them the site works in Opera but you have us blocked for some reason.