The exact same thing happened to me. I ended up running all the malware suggestions (Malwarebytes, HitMan, AdwCleaner, JRT, and nothing was found. I ended up backing up my profile info to another folder, uninstalling Opera and rerunning all the mentioned programs, ran Ccleaner as well, rebooted, then reinstalled Opera. Everything's working fine now (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.). It was extremely annoying. I feel your pain! Dealt with it for ten days on vacation, which made me switch to Chrome for that period, but once I got home and was able to properly research and print the info I needed, the problem seems to be resolved. I'm adding my speed dial items and so far everything is functioning normally. My issues also started after the upgrade to 31. I do have 31 installed now, and after the wipe and reinstallation, the problems do seem to be gone. I had AdBlock Pro installed, too, but it didn't help with the popups.

This is the site I used to eliminate the tech-support popups I was getting. Don't know if you're getting those but it was helpful anyway. Good luck!

Just to update, I ran the malware removal tips process that Ciroa recommended, and in addition I uninstalled Opera after making a backup of my preferences/profile information. Then I ran Ccleaner again, ran more malware/adware/spyware cleaners, rebooted, and reinstalled a clean version of Opera. The popups are now gone. There must have been something attached to one of the speed dial favorites, maybe? I've started reapplying items and if one of them triggers another popup problem, I'll remove it right away. So far, so good, though. Thanks for the help. Sorry I didn't get back to the forum sooner. We were out of town on vacation, which made it doubly frustrating because I didn't have the ability to really back up my data effectively. Once we got home and recuperated from vacation (!), I was able to get started and things seem to be running smoothly so far. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.

Ciroa, thanks for the info. I believe I already did all those steps but I will look over that tips section and try again just in case I missed something the first time 'round.

Blackbird71, I did clear the cache, including running Ccleaner several times. One of the issues seemed to be that Opera didn't close properly so I forced the close and ran the cleaner. Also as I mentioned I uninstalled Opera, cleared the memory, and reinstalled, only to find the annoying scareware/malware/ads still occurring. On my startup page, I have not changed or added anything since the upgrade (in fact for a few weeks before that), so I'm not certain how to check for an infected code. Do you suggest removing everything from my speed dial and then seeing if the problem persists first? How would I inspect the desktop browser shortcut's internal command? As I said, I'm pretty computer literate (I've set up networks, de-virused computers, taken apart my own laptop and added memory, replaced hardware, screens, removed programs, etc., so I'm not a novice), I've just never run into this particular (annoying) issue before. I've never relied on "tool of the month" type websites. I always use reputable websites and have never had an issue with their removal tools so far. Thanks for your input!

There are no other recently installed programs. A Windows Update ran a few days ago, and a couple of other programs ran updates, but they were "in the background" and nothing unusual. I don't have any weird add-ons like odd browser toolbars or anything like that. The installed programs via Control Panel were the first thing I looked at after the malware/spyware scanners ran and didn't find anything. And it's just Opera. How can I completely remove Opera and get a fresh installation without losing my settings/preferences/bookmarks? Or is that a pipe dream? i have uninstalled Opera and installed an older version but the popups are still happening.

Well, I have run ADWCleaner, several times. The malware messages range from simply a popup advertisement to a "Warning! If you're a Charter customer, call this number to get your computer fixed!" to ads from cnet for TVs. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen. My son wonders if it's some sort of hidden ads on the pages I'm on, but why would they only show up AFTER the latest Opera upgrade and not before? And why when I am running an ad blocker recommended by Opera? At this point I have uninstalled Opera, installed an earlier version, and it still happens. Avast! tells me that some of the popups are malware, but many seem to be ads. Some are also the annoying pages that won't let you leave until you click five or six different close buttons. At this point I'm about ready to drop Opera, which I hate to do because I love it, but Chrome is perfectly fine and isn't giving me these popups.

By the way, I do have an AdblockPlus extension enabled, but it doesn't seem to be working on these particular popups. I have screenshots but am not sure how to embed them here.

The Opera upgrade to 31 recently ran on my laptop that runs Windows 10. Nothing unusual at first, the normal upgrade seemed to go well. However, when I access webpages now, if I click anywhere on the page to scroll down, I get popups telling me that my computer has a virus and to call an 800 number, or to click and talk to someone, or download virus removal software. I run Avast!, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and Spybot Search & Destroy, all of which come up empty after running. I have run Adware remover, JRT, and Hitman. Hitman found items, which I removed. I even uninstalled Opera and reinstalled version 29, but the same thing is happening. Opera's the only software that is different. No other updates have run. Any suggestions?

The problem I'm having with Opera 23 is that none of my settings stay enabled once I exit the browser. NONE of them. Every time I open Opera, I have to go in and recheck the boxes to download where I want and show the bookmarks bar. EVERY TIME. That sucks. I'm downloading & installing an earlier version right now, in the (faint) hope that this screwup will be fixed. Wish me luck!

I have uninstalled Opera, reinstalled it, but somehow none of the settings I want (download location, bookmark bar showing, start page) stay if I exit a session. Does anybody have any idea why this is happening? I've searched forums, help topics, etc., and cannot figure out why it is happening or why it would have started happening randomly.

I also ran virus scan, malware scan, and spyware scans, and came up negative on all three.

I just closed Opera, did NOT run any cleaners, and reopened it, and the problem still exists. I do not think it is an issue with any other program. Any ideas why Opera would suddenly do this? Do I need to uninstall and reinstall, and if so how do I keep my bookmarks and other settings? I'm worried about that since Opera seems to randomly delete settings now.