Opera Browser Assistant?
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A Former User last edited by
@ruetzelberg said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
Hi folks,
here my facts about this issue:- I use Opera since decades. And always installed from Opera Homepage, resp. their FTP-Site. Never "Bundles"!
- It runs on 2 PCs Windows7 and 2 PCs Windows10.
- The issue ocurred on all 4 along with the "sheduled" autoupdate from Version 66.0.3515.103 -> 66.0.3515.115.
- The tray icon only emerges on Windows10.
I would really appreciate to know what this process is for....
So long
I don't get the tray icon. Windows 10 Home (1909). I had both entries in startup, but never noticed anything running (although windows' own task manager says "medium" startup impact). Figured it was running something really quickly when I logged in. /shrug
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A Former User last edited by A Former User
I am really, really puzzled as to why only a single opera moderator has commented here and ZERO folks from Opera have attempted an explanation of what this mystery software is doing on our computers. Can we take a tiny break from talking about where we're seeing it and how to remove it and instead focus on what the hell it actually IS?
-- "I checked with Opera. The Opera Browser Assistant is a legit program from Opera. It only gets installed when Opera gets installed when Opera is bundled with another program like an Anti-virus program. The assistant is just there to let you know that you have Opera on your system. "
The above doesn't really make sense (especially in the current context - it now being installed with every instance of the browser). It's not helpful. (although I thank whoever it was who tried contacting someone at Opera to get an answer).
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burnout426 Volunteer last edited by
@dragaan said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
I am really, really puzzled as to why only a single opera moderator has commented here and ZERO folks from Opera have attempted an explanation of what this mystery software
The info I posted at https://forums.opera.com/post/167025 came from an Opera developer. What the Browser Assistant is for still hasn't changed as far as I know. What seems to have changed is that the assistant is present on the system just from installing Opera directly. However, in my case, the assistant wasn't actually running. Maybe Opera is doing some a/b testing. Or, maybe Opera is just testing including it with the installer no matter what and keeping it updated, but only having it activated (and shown in the system tray) when Opera is installed by a 3rd party program. If so, maybe that makes things easier for bundling Opera. Or, maybe it's just due to Opera's recent updates to the updater. Maybe the assistant is just being installed and updated when not actually needed, which could be a bug or maybe intended.
Hopefully we'll find out.
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burnout426 Volunteer last edited by
@burnout426 said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
I removed all the stuff manually and will see what the next update does.
The update to 68.0.3616.0 brought all the assistant stuff back.
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burnout426 Volunteer last edited by burnout426
I did uninstall Opera Developer and wipe out all tracks of it and the assistant. I then installed 68.0.3609.0 via the offline installer. That didn't install the assistant. But, when it updated to 68.0.3616.0 when I checked for updates on the about page, the update reinstalled the browser assistant. The assistant didn't manually run (may have if I restarted Windows though), but I manually started it. Its process just runs and closes and does nothing that I can tell (no systray icon etc.).
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@burnout426 I'd forgotten about it but just checked now and here the update to 3616 also brought back the browser assistant.
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A Former User last edited by
@burnout426 said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
@dragaan said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
I am really, really puzzled as to why only a single opera moderator has commented here and ZERO folks from Opera have attempted an explanation of what this mystery software
The info I posted at https://forums.opera.com/post/167025 came from an Opera developer. What the Browser Assistant is for still hasn't changed as far as I know. What seems to have changed is that the assistant is present on the system just from installing Opera directly. However, in my case, the assistant wasn't actually running. Maybe Opera is doing some a/b testing. Or, maybe Opera is just testing including it with the installer no matter what and keeping it updated, but only having it activated (and shown in the system tray) when Opera is installed by a 3rd party program. If so, maybe that makes things easier for bundling Opera. Or, maybe it's just due to Opera's recent updates to the updater. Maybe the assistant is just being installed and updated when not actually needed, which could be a bug or maybe intended.
Hopefully we'll find out.
Yea, all I meant was that the description given didn't really tell much. Makes it sound as if it's a separate program from Opera (with a separate installer, updater, install directory, etc.) and all it does is put an "O" in your system tray to remind folks that they have the Opera Browser installed on their system? Yeah, that doesn't jive with me. Even if that was 100% true (why would that require an updater...), I would think it'd do more to "remind" folks to uninstall Opera, hehe.
Anyway, from what I can tell (without digging muuch deeper...), once I removed it from startup and its updater from startup tasks, the assistant program no longer runs when I start my PC. If I notice it running at any other time or doing anything else, I'll report it. Right now it APPEARS that Opera is fine with you just disabling it.
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A Former User last edited by
I left Opera due to this "Opera Browsing Assistant" business. However I can't find another suitable browser to use apart from one I can't name which I do use. I like to have two browsers on all my machines so I have at the moment just the one ! Opera staff are back at work , its Tuesday evening here in the UK and its my opinion that Opera should make the browsing assistant an "optional" extra.
Surely the moderator of this forum was elected by someone at Opera to censor this forum , so must have some influence, or can anyone be the moderator !
Opera makes it clear where their HQ is so why can't a Scandinavian user go into their offices and get the full details of the "Opera Browsing Assistant" and post the results here ? -
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blackbird71 last edited by blackbird71@treego Perhaps to avoid a chance of setting off a "theirs is bigger than yours" flame-war. At least back in the olden days, it was generally considered good netiquette to avoid an appearance of touting a competitive product in a sponsored software forum... it tended to keep dialogue focused on the issue at hand.
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treego last edited by
@blackbird71 said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
@treego Perhaps to avoid a chance of setting off a "theirs is bigger than yours" flame-war. At least back in the olden days, it was generally considered good netiquette to avoid an appearance of touting a competitive product in a sponsored software forum... it tended to keep dialogue focused on the issue at hand.
Personally, I think it is good to compare Opera to other browsers in the forums. Specifically naming the other browsers helps to highlight where Opera is superior/inferior. If it is inferior in some way, this forum could help developers to catch up to the other browsers. If Opera is superior, it's a good chance to congratulate the developers for their good work!
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A Former User last edited by
In answer to why I can't name the "rival" browser. In another post topic I was asked what other browser I use and the moderator locked the topic to stop me from replying !!! I can only assume it was the moderator who locked the topic and I will apologise if proven wrong. I had no notification that the topic would be locked either ! Suffice to say its not a rare browser but what I and some other people consider the natural successer to the Opera browser. If the moderator wants to cancel this post too perhaps they would have the decency to send me a personal email with their reasons why.
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@mike88 That topic was locked because it was a goodbye one and those kind of topics are usually closed because there i sno meaning in keep them opened.
Mention of other browsers is not forbidden. However, if it starts a flame war or if it look slike the user is just spamming the other browser, then topics may be locked, posts deleted and so on.
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A Former User last edited by
I'm comparatively new to opera, installed the offline version a couple of weeks ago (Windows 7), but several days ago I noticed that all my startup programs didn't start. It appeard that all my entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run were gone (except for Opera Browser Assistant). I have a very strong suspicion, that the auto-updater not appended/update the Run registry entry, but wiped it completely. I may be wrong, but I compared daily backups of the registry and harddrive and could not recall any other install activity on my side. I hope that it is already noticed and will be fixed.
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A Former User last edited by
Although I don't have Opera on my computers now I would like to reinstal it on at least a few of them, but can't until I get an answer to what the "Opera Browser assistant" actually is. I could try a new (to me) browser but that may be adding petrol to the fire (unknown territory). I can remember Opera had a feature called The "Amazon Assistant" that would ask to be installed on what seemed like most occasions Opera was booted up. I always declined. Searching Google for the OBA shows it as being installed when third party applications are used to instal it, but this is not the case in these latest instances. I am especially careful about security on my Windows 7 machines, so like to know what is being installed. Will we ever know the answer ?
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ruetzelberg last edited by
@kingstio said in Opera Browser Assistant?:
It appeard that all my entries in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run were gone (except for Opera Browser Assistant). I have a very strong suspicion, that the auto-updater not appended/update the Run registry entry, but wiped it completely.
Same happened to me, when i reinstalled Opera!
I'm not sure, if it was done by uninstall or by reinstall.
But afterwards the whole key ("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run") with some other needed(!) startups was gone!
What luck i backuped it just before, to document the Opera-entry. -
burnout426 Volunteer last edited by
@kingstio You could uninstall Opera (delete that entry if it's still there), add at least one entry for something else in the key and reinstall Opera to see if Opera truly is wiping out the whole key. If it doesn't do it, you can then try again by installing an older build of Opera from https://ftp.opera.com/pub/opera/desktop/ and letting it update to see if it happens during just a update.
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