Topics created by lynnpin

...And, go into "Alt + p -> advanced -> programs" in Opera 12.17 and make sure it's set to check for defaults. Also, click "details" there and if it doesn't load "default programs" in windows and has a bunch of checkboxes for file types and protocols instead, make sure http and https are checked and click ok.

Switching on this morning still didn't solve the problem but Burnout's suggestion above did work without reinstalling everything.

Thank you very much!

Deactivating auto-update is as simple as disabling the windows scheduler entry. easy to do from scheduled tasks in the control panel.

OsX/Linux, it's probably in crontab

You may have some excess antivirus activity in opera cache folder. If your Opera slows down again, turn antivirus off (just for testing).
Also, some content indexers (Windows search indexer, then some media catalog or CD burning programs tend to run background indexers too) may choke on Opera cache folder.

Does your HDD light blink while Opera slows down?

Another possibility is that all (most) your open tabs contain flash or other animations, running on background - but such situation should affect other browsers too.

Opera have mouse gesture for opening new tabs in foreground
right click link and pull it down

...I personally hate it because it fights with new tab gesture (easy to trigger it accidentally)

I made extensions for dragging links with left mouse button, and you can customize it how it behaves (active or bg, different for up and down)...

a

you can try it on addons store
V7 Drag