I got the new "Instant Search" Popup and I am not happy with it. Whoever suggested this feature seriously needs attention. I thought at first it was malware infecting my computer before I did a Google search and see that Opera is responsible. I have looked in settings but cannot see a disable for this . Can someone help please ?

Thanks for your responses, I have now calmed down. I have removed it from the sidebar but when I first had the "instant search" bar appear I don't think I clicked on anything to get it to appear, which makes it mysterious. I hope the "instant search" bar can only be used by user intervention and not when Opera thinks it should be shown. As a side note when Opera does these "upgrades" why don't they show a page automatically after the update so the user is aware of what features have been added or removed.

As a longtime user of Opera and noticed it fails to perform basic functions sometimes correctly I am wondering if it is worth bothering with. Vivaldi always works as expected but Opera ? !!!
Today I caught two Opera auto update processes running in task manager at the sametime. Both pointed to the correct Opera file, why two processes and while I'm speaking about therm why won't Opera let us turn off auto updates ? Also had Opera crash reporter appear at a different time today also in task manager. However I have Opera set to NOT send crash reports so why is it running ? Business organisations usually get the basics right before adding new features but Opera doesn't seem capable of this. I will continue to use Opera probably as a secondary installation so I can remove it easily if it continues to display "odd" behaviour.

Pleased to read yantas comments. I have many machines (Windows 7) and sometimes do standalone installations. They can be installed into one folder (with sub folders)on the hard drive so easy to delete if something suspicious happens. In the end today, I completely removed everything with the word Opera reinstalled and set up my settings all in about 10 minutes.

Regarding your message, i don't get the issue now. It could be because I don't have Opera on as many computers as I once did, due to Opera's irritating issues like the" Browsing assistant". If detailed answers can't be given the customer can walk and try other chromium browsers like I have done.

I can sympathize with you regarding updates.

For several years I have tried to get Opera to update automatically which usually fails. I have tried updating manually which wors in about 3 times out of 10. In the past when I have mentioned this the moderator doesn't seem very concerned.

We all know Opera is built on Chromium components , its a pity they cannot use the update methods of other Chromium browsers.

I have had 100% success in updating Microsoft Edge and with Vivaldi. In yet in the past I have been told the problem is not with Opera .....

I did all I could to get opera to update but in the end I just gave up, not worth the stress and hassle when other browsers are OK.

I would return to Opera instantly if they fixed the updater !

I have been a long term user of Opera but find it doesn't have a status bar at the bottom of the page. Vivaldi have recently got their status bar to provide more info regarding page loading process etc. Anyone know of an extension suitable for Opera ? I've had a quick look myself and can't find anything.

OK today had a small problem. Wanted to download offline package to update browser, I have done this many times in the past. The url is
https://www.opera.com/computer however going there no offline installer shown on the whole page apart from a portable usb installer. At the bottom of the page is a green box saying "Download Now" which downloads the stub which is not what I do ! Vivaldi came to the rescue and typing in exactly the same url showed the link to the offline installer of Opera towards the top of the pageon the right.. So i got what I wanted in the end. Why this hassle ?

Thank you burnout426 for your reply the comments have been noted

Thanks for the explanation.

Hello, This is only a very vague question. Some people have problems with their Opera browser and attach a picture say a .jpg or a .png. with their posting.
There will be a few postings where the user may have something like malware etc. I have read on the Internet that picture files can sometimes be infected and unknown to the user. Do the Opera forums scan uploaded files for malicious code so that readers of the forum are safe ?

@leocg
Thanks for your responses. I've always had problems for years in updating the Opera browser when I've had it installed.
Also to get to details of the latest build the user has to go to https://blogs.opera.com/desktop to get the info. As a trial I downloaded a rival chromium browser that has the full offline installer on its homepage with details of its version when hovering over the link. I also find this rival browser in use surprisingly quicker than Opera. I have been using Opera off and on since version 6 or 9 when the user paid money to use the browser. I realise that each user has their own favourite browser but Opera has other (unwanted ?) features like crash reporter and two instances of Opera auto update, also a tray icon. Are any of these really necessary for a modern browser ?

@leocg
I specifically mentioned offline installer in my posting. Running through the normal installer through Virus Total today a few engines found it as being bad. Also getting Opera to update via the browser is hit and miss. It gets as far as 100% and stays there. Could you please answer my questions as written ? Thanks.

I have returned to Opera and found that in my case updating the browser still isn't as straight forward as it is in other Chromium browsers. This being said I am prepared to download offline package manually to update ![ but find this difficult to find, where is it on the Opera website ? I did find https://download3.operacdn.com/pub/opera/desktop which I will keep for further reference. But even then when the most recent version of the browser is found in the list ,there are several options to choose from ! Which one should I use from the 8 listed to update a Windows 7 32 bit machine ? Thanks.

@leocg
Thank you for the quick response.

Hello, I have returned to Opera after sometime away and there have been changes. Firstly I notice that Opera uses 12 processes when idle ie: when start page is loaded but not connected to the Internet, is this number normal ?
Also I cannot find an "About" page in Opera, how do I access it. Before it would have browser version and whether it was up to date.

I had to return to Opera because another browser that I use has made lots of changes recently that interferes in some aspects with my access to the Internet that fortunately does not happen with Opera !
I would be grateful if someone could help me with my questions. Thanks.

As the original poster of this problem over 2 years ago it is a pity that it hasn't been sorrted out yet. People expect a browser to work properly or a full explanation as to why the problem occurs. Also users should not be expected to try and sort the matter out, it is up to Opera to do this. I experiment with Opera on an occasional basis but its not going to be my main browser whilst this problem still occurs. My main browser is another chromium browser with huge backing and I suppose the moderator would not want me to mention it. Suffice to say I have had no problems with spurious messages with this other browser etc and as Opera is built on Chromium the problem is clearly with them.

If I were in your situation and the laptop was new I would revert it back to how it was when you got it . Did you make any backups over the period that you could go back too ?
I personally only instal programs that are essential to my use of the computer. I also only instal full installers after running them through Virustotal first.
I don't know how many programs you have installed but the more you have the more likely possibility of malware, which is why you should have done a backup before you added Any programs etc.
You may want to consider a standalone installation of Opera at some point. Use add/remove to remove opera and then delete your Opera profile directory in its entirety. Then do a search on your system for Opera and hopefully you won't find it showing. Then reinstal Opera from an offline installer and select the stand alone option. Then change path to C/program Files/Test leaving out the word Opera. All operas files including your new profile will then end up in that or its sub directorys. Then place a shortcut to the .exe file on desktop. Should anything strange then happen with Opera you can delete the above folder. I don't know what other programs you installed but are they well known and did you run the installers through Virustotal ? IMO as you havn't had the laptop very long I would go back to the beginning and start reinstalling programs one by one always remembering to backup,backup etc. Also nearly forgot to add you may need to check any USB sticks you have used for infection. This is only my point of view but go to the malware forums like "bleeping computer" etc and get instructions from them.

@martinamery
As the original poster of this topic two years ago it is very disappointing that after all this time the same issues remain.
If Opera developers don't think there is a problem how come other chrome browsers in my experience don't have the same issue, for example Edge and Vivaldi ?
Every few months I instal Opera to see if anything has changed but its getting depressing. My other gripe with Opera is manually instigating an update when I am greeted by the message "an error has occurred" until after several attempts I finally get the browser to update. This is not a problem with other Chromium browsers, so why Opera ?
You would think that the developers would do everything possible to make the browser a pleasure to use rather than make users consider moving elsewhere ,even if it is only a temporary move.

I can sympathize with you regarding updates.

For several years I have tried to get Opera to update automatically which usually fails. I have tried updating manually which wors in about 3 times out of 10. In the past when I have mentioned this the moderator doesn't seem very concerned.

We all know Opera is built on Chromium components , its a pity they cannot use the update methods of other Chromium browsers.

I have had 100% success in updating Microsoft Edge and with Vivaldi. In yet in the past I have been told the problem is not with Opera .....

I did all I could to get opera to update but in the end I just gave up, not worth the stress and hassle when other browsers are OK.

I would return to Opera instantly if they fixed the updater !