The VPN is neither disabled nor is it enabled: I opted to have the VPN enabled, but the VPN symbol is in orange (not the customary blue); when I click the VPN logo, it says "connecting" and does not get anywhere. So you decide whether this state is 'enabled' or 'disabled'

As regards anti-virus, the only program that runs in the background is BitDefender

Please advise

OP here - yes, VPN was indeed enabled, but did not connect

I just installed Opera version 40.0.2308.81 on my Win10 laptop and the browser just does not seem to work. When started it opens up a normal browser window, but any URL I enter, does not resolve to the page. The web page continues working without anything being displayed.

Any idea why this happens?