Bing as Default Search Engine in Opera 26

[windlibra]

windlibra last edited by

the Bing search engine inclusion deal Opera Software had with Microsoft just expired and MS decided to not renew or pay the value Opera was asking for it. Opera then replaced it with DuckDuckGo either because they made a deal with them or by "philanthropy".

I doubt this considering that it is still included as the search for "define *".

I believe it's too lazy for developers to remove the code at that moment.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

...
To address the personal attack by blackbird (I hope you understand the irony of your immaturity comment!): This is due to the fact that 1) this is a feature that already existed. 2) this fix is trivial. 3) Opera should know better than this. The omnibar is a huge feature to have destroyed overnight and should be top of their PO's list. If it is not than our needs and intentions for browsers are not the same (not even close) and they are no longer worth the trouble. ...

The immaturity lies in coming to a forum and loudly threatening to dump a software program if its designers don't reverse some change you dislike, within a day or a week or whatever of your complaint. If you don't like a piece of software, say so politely, give your reasons, and just do whatever you feel you have to... without all the immature drama of threats, ultimatums and deadlines.

For the record, I still use Opera 12.14 instead of 12.17 precisely because Opera, for reasons it deems adequate, "locked" the default search engine list on Presto browsers starting with 12.15. I came to the MyOpera forum and here on several occasions and stated my reasons for opposing that change (in large measure because I prefer StartPage, which is not in the default list). Opera elected to stick with its decision... so I simply made my choice to stick with 12.14.

Something similar happened when Opera elected to replace the Presto family with Blink versions. Those who inhabit this forum for any length of time know well my objections to the Blink versions to date, because I've attempted to politely state them on several occasions over the past many months. While I recognize Blink Opera is still evolving, it hasn't yet met some of my critical needs, so I chose FireFox as my primary browser for now. I still come here to help Opera users to the degree I can, considering it a form of "payback" to all those who've helped me in Opera's forums for many years. And if Opera eventually includes some key features I need, I will have no problem in returning to it in its Blink form. My point is that there is no need for posting drama and ultimatums. Opera is a free browser... and there are at least a dozen other free browsers "out there"... politely voice your concerns, make whatever choices/changes you need to, and simply get on with your life.

[yuniopak]

yuniopak last edited by

This decision really bothered me too, I like Bing.

So I looked for another browser and found one called Yandex. It is still in beta (at least the English version). Its pretty cool and I was able to set Bing to default browser I am happy again.

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

I wouldn't touch a Russian (or Chinese for that matter) browser for anything. You're welcome to your Yandex browser but there are far better browsers available and certainly Opera is one of these.

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

Many people wanted Duckduckgo as default search engine, now they have it but want Bing too.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Any search engine should be capable of being set as the user's default if they choose, unless there are serious security concerns with it.
Restrictions because of commercial deals are a PITA.

[8sheldons8]

8sheldons8 last edited by

I too prefer Bing, I also greatly prefer Opera. So for now I'll just browse to Bing first to do my searches and hope it gets fixed eventually.

I also made use of the ability to hide the search bar on the Speed Dial page as soon as I read about it on these forums. I don't use Google search and it frees up some space for the stuff I care about.

[christoph142]

christoph142 last edited by admin

As I said I was following up:

1. I did get an explanation, but unfortunately I'm legally not allowed to share it with you. I can tell you this much: Opera didn't swap Bing with DuckDuckGo because they felt like it, but they did so for a reason. IMO Opera's non-communication policy often offends people and isn't the best idea after all, but as I'm not working for them, I can't change that.
2. I'm going with solution number 2 (out of my mentioned comment). I was reassured by Opera's devs that they really want this to happen themselves. They just didn't come up with a solution yet that prevents third-party programs from fiddling with your search engines.

I get that this maybe isn't exactly what you guys wanted to hear, but I also think that it's good news that there's hope for custom default search engines to happen eventually. And maybe you can even help making this happen faster:
Does anyone in here have an idea how to solve mentioned issue?

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

...
Does anyone in here have an idea how to solve mentioned issue?

One possible idea? If there is a user-space Opera settings file that cannot be written to by malware/3rd-parties from within the browser web-space area, put a user setting in that file which allows a user to select his default search engine from either the regular current default search engine list or from a list of optional/custom search engines. If that setting is pointed at the regular default list, only one of those "golden" search engines can be used by Opera (perhaps defaulting to the current primary default engine if nothing else is specified in a second selector setting). If the first setting is instead pointed to the optional/custom list, then whatever a user selects from that list (via another selector setting) will be used by the browser. If search engine hijacking should occur against that optional/custom list, then it would be a straightforward matter for the user to reset the browser by re-selecting the initial setting to point back to the default list, restarting Opera, and getting the browser search unhijacked.

In this way, use of a search engine from the current default list would be proofed against hijacking just as is now the case; use of a default engine from the optional/custom list would be available for those wanting it instead, but would carry the 'normal' risk of potential hijacking - if such hijacking were to occur, control of the browser could be easily re-established by pointing the "list" user setting back to the current default list and restarting the browser.

[derek1388]

derek1388 last edited by

there also is a unique ID in all the search entrys so that the search engines now with opera can track us forever even if we switch ip , country or gender.

[theashigaru]

theashigaru last edited by

@christoph142 Thank you for looking further into this. I'm glad there is some reassurance from the development team that they would like to bring Bing back, even if you can't share Opera's full reasoning.

[runewake]

runewake last edited by

As I said I was following up:

I did get an explanation, but unfortunately I'm legally not allowed to share it with you. I can tell you this much: Opera didn't swap Bing with DuckDuckGo because they felt like it, but they did so for a reason. IMO Opera's non-communication policy often offends people and isn't the best idea after all, but as I'm not working for them, I can't change that.
I'm going with solution number 2 (out of my mentioned comment). I was reassured by Opera's devs that they really want this to happen themselves. They just didn't come up with a solution yet that prevents third-party programs from fiddling with your search engines.

I get that this maybe isn't exactly what you guys wanted to hear, but I also think that it's good news that there's hope for custom default search engines to happen eventually. And maybe you can even help making this happen faster:
Does anyone in here have an idea how to solve mentioned issue?

This is not possible. Any program or file on a computer can be read and modified by other programs. Even if you encrypt it you'll be able to read it and change it. Grab a hex editor and start hacking. If they truly intend to solve this in that way they will never have a solution. We already have solutions to crack their default search engines. How is this any different? The only solution that 'might' work is to route all searches through Opera servers and select the proper search engine to use based on data maintained server side. This is less than optimal (if Opera servers die you can't search, you need an account or this doesn't work etc) and could be worked around still.

Sounds like I need a new browser. Clearly Opera's priorities need to be reevaluated.

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

I'm going with solution number 2 (out of my mentioned comment). I was reassured by Opera's devs that they really want this to happen themselves. They just didn't come up with a solution yet that prevents third-party programs from fiddling with your search engines.

I don't understand how solution 2 is supposed to protect us from malware changing default. If we can just replace the JSON file and bring back a default from before, can't malware just edit or replace the JSON to add something random?

sidenote: I miss Bing as well.

[l0uwii]

l0uwii last edited by

Seriously upset that Bing is no longer able to be selected as the default search engine, and frankly I'm not going to settle for a manual add even if I could set manual search engines as the default.

I did get an explanation, but unfortunately I'm legally not allowed to share it with you. I can tell you this much: Opera didn't swap Bing with DuckDuckGo because they felt like it, but they did so for a reason. IMO Opera's non-communication policy often offends people and isn't the best idea after all, but as I'm not working for them, I can't change that.
I'm going with solution number 2 (out of my mentioned comment). I was reassured by Opera's devs that they really want this to happen themselves. They just didn't come up with a solution yet that prevents third-party programs from fiddling with your search engines.

All I (and probably most here) want is the ability to select Bing as the default search engine in the Search Engine settings menu, drop-down style. Besides maybe Yandex, I struggle to see what other search engines would even be meaningful to add. Bing has 20% of all search marketshare now. If there's some legal conundrum or some under the table deal that Opera made which has resulted in Bing being removed, Opera better settle it quick. Count me out if it means that Bing is a second class citizen when it comes to search engines on the browser. In the mean time, I've switched back to Internet Explorer, though I'm none too happy about it.

[mksimsvk]

mksimsvk last edited by

Thanks candytaco you solved my problem i do not understand why after so big demand they still not do any changes to the browser or at least release some manual in theyr blog for people to solve this issue .

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

While I don't care for Bing, it's ridiculous that search engines were ever locked up in this way.

I'm going with solution number 2 (out of my mentioned comment). I was reassured by Opera's devs that they really want this to happen themselves. They just didn't come up with a solution yet that prevents third-party programs from fiddling with your search engines.

Sure, as they said two years ago when they first introduced the anti-feature. The problem is that the entire idea is ill conceived. If the user installs something that hijacks their search engine, tough for them! There's simply nothing you can do to protect against this without taking it out of the users hands entirely.

If a user installs malware, all bets are off. Protecting the search engine isn't even worth consideration in this scenario. No doubt Opera have their reasons, but nobody should buy their excuse.

[ottomaddox]

ottomaddox last edited by

Hi .. using Opera 26 and came here looking for the same info: "Where the heck is Bing as a default??"

Just sharing my little workaround, which seems to work well. Went to Bing homepage. Right-clicked inside their search box. Chose Create Search Engine. Added the Engine, with the one-letter shortcut "b". Now, when I hope into the Address Bar, I just type "b [whatever search terms]" and it takes me to my Bing results. So with the typing of one extra letter, you get Bing as your default.

Hah -- don't really understand WHY it works. After all, you can make a Bing shortcut in Opera as an added engine, but this way it also sends your query along for the ride, rather than typing "b" and THEN doing the Bing search.

Not sure if this quite what people want but just tossing it out there. I've JUST started using Opera, so I'm sure more experienced Opera users are already doing this. Cheers...

[khoaatl]

khoaatl last edited by

Hokays. I solved this. It appears that they removed Bing from the defaultpartnercontent.json file between 26.0.1656.24 and 26.0.1656.32
here is an older version of that file, pulled from my 26.0.1656.24 files. Replace the file in the Opera\26.0.1656.32\resources\ folder, and voila, problem solved! If you still have the 26.0.1656.24 folder in your Opera installation, you can just copy that one. Download mine if your folder already got removed.

Thank you soo much candytaco. This works!!!

[gfrex]

gfrex last edited by

If Opera is worried about malware adding default search engines, why not just check the search engine file for changes and if any changes were detected since last launch, run a check on the URLs through Phishtank?

There will not be any completely safe way to do search engines as people will always find ways around it, but like wofall said, if a user has malware, they probably have much more to deal with than fake search engines.

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

I'd like to see an official statement from any admin on this forum about this bing issue, please, I've used it as my default search engine for a long time now and I'd like to know the official reason for which they removed Bing, after reading that, I'll start to look for alternative browsers, even if that means using internet explorer, or even better, does anyone here know how to properly customize firefox? thanks