I'm new to Opera and I have the same problem as Alexander -- no appearances, preferences, etc. on the menu. I want to set a home page button and add notes, but some of the drop-down menu items that are supposed to be there are not there. Cyxovi's replies don't address this issue. It's not a question of wanting to use a different browser, it's of wanting to access all the features that this one already supposedly has.
I hope someone can provide the answer.