Why Is Opera Allowed To Be So Intrusive On Install?
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A Former User last edited by
I tried this a few months ago with the same results, but I just tried again today.
When I installed Opera 60, on a system that has Chrome installed, as well as other browsers, it automatically made itself the default browser without asking, it brought in all my bookmarks without asking, my logins and passwords without asking, and it pinned itself to my Win 10 taskbar without asking. On top of that, for the last one, even when I "unpin" it from the taskbar, it still has a blank spot where the icon was (new programs I open even skip over it leaving a blank), and if I right-click, it gives me the option to pin it to my taskbar, despite the fact I specifically already asked it to NOT be pinned to my taskbar. Even "Close all windows" does nothing. I can't even get rid of that one, since it's not even listed as running in my task manager. If I do pin and unpin another instance? it makes the whole thing stay there, but be completely uninteractive.
Hey, all of this stuff is fine if people want to allow it, but how is it acceptable for all of this to happen without any permissions granted, or at least permissions that may be hidden in in some EULA or setting that is not available when you install.
Who is OK with this?
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sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by
You allowed it to. If you had clicked on Options you would have been able to change that, but you chose to accept the defaults. It can be argued that even people who are "just trying it out" will want their bookmarks and passwords imported so they don't have to add them manually; setting itself as default can be considered a bit more problematic but is easy enough to change.
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burnout426 Volunteer last edited by
@cuthbert51 said in Why Is Opera Allowed To Be So Intrusive On Install?:
On top of that, for the last one, even when I "unpin" it from the taskbar, it still has a blank spot where the icon was (new programs I open even skip over it leaving a blank), and if I right-click, it gives me the option to pin it to my taskbar, despite the fact I specifically already asked it to NOT be pinned to my taskbar. Even "Close all windows" does nothing. I can't even get rid of that one, since it's not even listed as running in my task manager. If I do pin and unpin another instance? it makes the whole thing stay there, but be completely uninteractive.
I experience this issue all the time when unpinning Opera's icons. What you need to do is open the task manager, select Windows Explorer in the list and click "restart". That'll fix it.
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burnout426 Volunteer last edited by
@cuthbert51 said in Why Is Opera Allowed To Be So Intrusive On Install?:
When I installed Opera 60, on a system that has Chrome installed, as well as other browsers, it automatically made itself the default browser without asking, it brought in all my bookmarks without asking, my logins and passwords without asking, and it pinned itself to my Win 10 taskbar without asking.
Opera like's to focus on and prioritize newbie users that want everything done for them automatically. It can be annoying, but it is what it is. Opera also likes to make "options" in the installer very subtle so newbie users don't mess with things. Sucks for the rest of is, but again, it is what it is.
To avoid spyware, malware, viruses and unwanted programs, whenever you install something, you should always look for, read and adjust advanced options. If you get into the habit of doing that, you won't get burned by such options in browser installers.
As for the option to not pin when installing or not launch Opera when installing, see https://www.reddit.com/r/operabrowser/comments/9snae4/installer_command_line_switches/ for command line options.
