I'm not an Opera user. So this might be the wrong question to ask here, but I can't seem to find an answer anywhere else. Does anyone know why Opera would download and install automatically? I didn't try to put Opera on my system, but every three days it downloads and installs. I've used Revo uninstaller and the Opera uninstaller. Even did a system search for "Opera" and deleted everything I could find. Thought someone here might know of a hacker doing this.

Well it is on my system. I didn't install it to begin with. I've made extensive attempts to remove it completely, and it keeps coming back.

I should mention I've deleted this install at least four times. Every three days it downloads and installs

redit0, since fixing my Opera/Vipre problem, I decided I didn't need Vipre to do any updates. The programs it updated were already updating themselves. So I've disabled that function in Vipre.

lovpdx, just checked my history on the Opera situation. Here's what I have as the last step to "hide" the Opera install: (7. Once the scan completes, right click the offending updates and click 'Hide' The updates will be hidden from view in subsequent updates.) Apparently "hide" in Vipre language means stopping the update.

lovpdx, let me start by saying I think Vipre is good stuff. I prefer not to use more popular antivirus, since hackers look to attack that software first. As past manager of a small office network, I had malware just walk past Norton. So it seems our problem is actually the fault of Vipre. Minor fault - big headache.

Here's what fixed my problem: Open Vipre and click on "manage". Then click the "check for patches" button. Eventually you should get a list of updates. One of those should be Opera. You should be offered a choice to "hide" Opera. Mine's fixed now so I can't give you the exact directions for the "hide". Once you see the update list it should be pretty simple. Contact me again, if you have trouble; and tell me what you see when you have the update list.

I'm afraid the Vipre tech support might not be too helpful. I had to lead them to this problem. Since my experience, they may have caught up to the fix. The fix they gave me didn't work. Had to make up my own.

As I mentioned before in this thread, Vipre attempts to update browsers to prevent intrusions. It appears on some of our systems they update and install browsers we're not using.

The Opera that gets installed on you system shouldn't be harmful. You can just use Windows uninstall to get rid of it. This little episode has made me interested in Opera as one of my browsers. Now that things have settled down on my system, I plan on installing the latest Opera version. Good luck lovpdx

I would like to thank everyone that's been offering suggestions here. I believe I may have solved the problem. It seems Vipre may have been the culprit. They have a security "patch" on a bunch of internet programs that includes the major browsers. I'm not sure why, but it was forcing an upgrade and install of Opera. Just ran a fix that included their patch on browsers I use and got the same results I was getting before. I'll be waiting a few days to see if this is the fix, but it sure looks like it.

Thanks to a number of you I now have more security on the system, and a few more tools to work with. This is one of the better forums I've had the pleasure of commenting on. I think I'll be back.

blackbird71, both autorun and Process Explorer have been on my system since I first set it up. I'm going to add TCP view right away. BTW, just for kicks I installed Opera 23 last night. Malware tried loading again this morning, but this time I got a box asking did I want this upgrade and I declined. Doesn't solve the problem, but at least I got the little bug to talk to me. It's actually tried twice this morning. I rejected it both times. First time it tried this morning I had no other programs running. All I could see on task manager that was not there last night was an upgrade.exe and an install.exe. I'm going to use the sysinternals stuff to see what I can monitor when it shows up again.

I've been running Process Explorer on previous systems, but never could find out what the colors were about. Do you know?

sgunhouse, yesterday I was checking the history in Vipre,and in the Autopatch section I found a record of Opera installs. Turns out it's not every three days, but every two to four days and not the same time each day. I also found it strange that malware would want to install Opera. My thought was maybe Opera allowed access that my browsers didn't. It looks like Opera is more secure than Chrome or Firefox. So that might not be true.

Right now we're trying to catch this process in the act so I can see what might be running then. This all happens in the background. I'm on Windows Seven. I was pleased to see Seven asks for permission to make changes to the hard drive, but whatever this is doesn't make itself known. At least not while it's running. I have installed Bitmeter, which I've used before when on XP. Since Bitmeter runs constantly, I can see a download even when my browser and email are closed.

I've manually hunted down malware that got on a network I was administering, and had shut down Norton to infect the network. So it was a fairly sophisticated program, but that was years ago. Hackers have gotten a lot more clever, and I've been out of the business for quite a while now. It's been a very long time since I've had anything like this on one of my systems. Kind of scarey really.:(

Thanks for the input Blackbird71. Thought I was staying ahead of the criminals, but they keep making improvements.:(

Joshl, I never found IE to be a very good browser. First thing I do is disable or delete it.

Went to youtube and checked old reviews of Opera from the beginning of the year. All pretty good on ver 19. Since I'm not really using Chrome, I think I'll install a "real" version tonight and see what happens. Might as well turn this lemon into lemonade.

You guys are great!

As I continue to dig into this I find a record in my Vipre antivirus that shows 22.0.1471.70 as the version of Opera that is being installed. Since July 8, there have been six downloads and installs. I've run both AdwCleaner and Malwarebytes, but not in safe mode. They did pick up a couple of culprits that Vipre has been blocking too. I've made a copy of my processes with no apps running, and will be watching for Opera to sneak in again. I'll be going back into safe mode to see what else I can catch. Vipre scan has been run in safe mode twice now.

Considering the response here, I really have to consider Opera as one of my browsers when I've solved this problem. What's the opinion here about what would happen, if I had the newest version of Opera already installed? Would I at least get some notice that Opera was already on my computer? Right now the only notice I get is the icon that shows on my desktop. My main browser right now is Firefox, and I rarely use Chrome. Internet Explorer has been deleted since this system was new. I could drop Chrome and add Opera.

I can't imagine Opera would be trying on its own to install on my system. Like most of you, I believe somehow I let the download/install sneak in with some other program. Until this started I had no connection with Opera.

I really have to thank all of you. Until I got on this forum it was beginning to look like I'd be formatting my hard drive, and starting over. Of course, I'm still not sure I've got a fix yet.