can anyone explain to a non-techie how to disable autoupdates? :-)

[pkfilseth]

pkfilseth last edited by

Hi ... yes, I did search on this topic, and I understand there have been previous posts, but I don't entirely understand the answers. Some seem to suggest there are "workarounds" for this problem, but most seem to assume a certain amount of technical knowledge.

I am a long-time Opera 12 user, and loved it. I am not a programmer. I have had to switch computers, as my old machine has died, and finally "upgrade" to the latest version of Opera, which I had been avoiding doing since so many users have hated it.

I'm now trying to get the new machine set up as closely to the way my old machine was as I could. I am on an extremely limited bandwidth connection (satellite) and need to be able to schedule all non-time-critical downloads for a very specific 5-hour window every day. Last year, I was starting to go over my monthly caps, and could not figure out why ... realized that among the regular invisible "hits" my bandwidth was taking were constant page refreshes by Opera, and changed settings to cause these things to happen rarely rather than every 5 seconds or whatever. So I've gone to look for where to set this in the new version of Opera, and don't see anyplace? But while searching the Web for info, found lots of complaints about not being able to turn off autoupdates, and this clearly is going to be something that affects me, as well.

Has anything changed? Is there a way to turn off autoupdates, or to disable them so that the user can pick the time of day when they occur? Again, I am not a programmer ... really not sure why the ability to just toggle a checkbox has been removed ... I have this ability with Windows updates, and can do those when it doesn't count against my bandwidth caps? I really liked Opera for the last few years and hate to give it up, but I'll have to if I can't schedule updates to occur when they won't swallow the limited bandwidth I have.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

For New Opera released versions to date, one way is to rename the opera_update.exe file to something like opera_update.xxx . That will stop updates completely for the installed build/version. However, you have to repeat that method for each new installation. To reinstate autoupdates, of course, you simply rename the update file extension from .xxx back to .exe.

You can also disable autoupdates by appending the --disable-update switch term to the command line that starts Opera, assuming that's how you start it (either manually or from a shortcut). However, the risk there is that anything that invokes Opera independently of that appended command line risks letting Opera auto-update itself.

Otherwise, there's not currently a built-in setting to block auto-updating as there used to be in Old Opera... which is probably by design, since the rapid release concept includes frequent background updates to the browser to push security and other "important" updates for either Opera or its chromium/Blink/Webkit engine.

[Deleted User]

Deleted User last edited by

You just have the command line switch --disable-update to the launcher. Right click the opera icon, then right click the opera above "unpin this program from taskbar" and select properties. In the box labeled target place the cursor at the end and add a space then --disable-update. It will look like this when finished - "C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera Developer\launcher.exe" --disable-update

To then update use About Opera to check for and install updates or just download from Desktop Blog.

You could also just stick with Opera 12. I have 12, Next and Devolper installed and use 12 as my main.

[pkfilseth]

pkfilseth last edited by

Thank you all so much. Both solutions are helpful and have worked ... I really appreciate.

Yes, I thought about sticking with Opera 12 (porting over the old 12 setup download from my backup disc and installing it on this new win 7 machine) ... the reason I went ahead and downloaded the latest version is because the list of my "frequently used" websites with which I've begun to experience Opera incompatibilities in the last 3 or 4 months has gradually been expanding, and I've had to face the unpleasant reality that at SOME point, I just won't be able to use it as my go-to version anymore. I loved that browser.

Anyway, thought I'd give the new version a try and see if it'll work for me or if I have to find something else ... but it's really hard to see something that was so good for so long change.