Opera 8.5 Configuration Guide

This guide shows how to setup Opera 8.5 for maximum security requirements. Opera is considered to be the most secure Internet browser. Version 8.5 comes with further improved security, better handling of non-standard HTML pages and some useful additional features. Security bugs in Opera are very rare. But even if a bug is discovered, it'll be usually fixed within a few days. The Opera support team is renowned for its very fast response time.
Opera is available for a variety of computer platforms: Windows, Macintosh, Linux, OS/2, Solaris, FreeBSD, QNX and Symbian. This guide will treat the Windows version 8.5 only. Opera 8.5 is, unlike its previous versions, freeware. No spyware or adware is included.

Installation and Configuration:
Download and install the latest version of Opera 8.5.
Start Opera and make it the standard browser on your system. The MS Internet Explorer still works but all queries for HTML documents will be redirected to Opera.



Before the first Internet access with Opera is established, the Preferences must be configured. The following instructions describe how to setup Opera by using the most secure settings. That may entail that some web pages are inaccessible. For very trustworthy sites the security level can be lowered (see the respective remarks below).
By default Opera 8.5 checks for updates automatically. It connects to the Opera home server without user interaction. Since such a behavior isn't desired usually, it must be disabled. The respective switch must be set in the Opera configuration file opera6.ini directly.
Open opera6.ini in a text editor. Usually the file can be found at:

C:\Documents and Settings\<login name>\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile\opera6.ini

...but it depends on your system configuration and the type of Opera's installation. In case of trouble to find the file, use the Windows search function.

Find the line Check For New Opera= in the [User Prefs] section. Change the value to 0. Then save the file.



Launch Opera 8.5 and enter the Preferences (Ctrl+F12).



Select Start with no pages and Block all pop-ups to suppress the creation of pop-up windows. Choose English [en] as Preferred language.




Disable the Wand in order to avoid that Opera stores your passwords which you've entered during a surfing session. Leave all personal information fields blank.




Select Show no icons.



Disable JavaScript and Java. plug-ins are a potential source of security holes and should be disabled.



Handling of file types: For each file type you can determine what Opera should do when accessing it. Example: If Opera encounters a hyperlink which leads to a wav file, the Windows Media Player will be opened to play the sound file automatically.
For security reasons this behavior should be disabled. Highlight audio/wav and press Edit.



Select Show download dialog. Opera won't start a wav file automatically anymore, instead it will ask what you intend to do (Save file or Open).



Adjust the behavior for each file type which is on the list. You can also create your own file types.
Example - Adding multi-part files to the file type list:
Click New, enter a description for MIME type (e.g. multi-part), enter the File extensions (e.g. 001,002,003,004 and so on). Select Show download dialog. Press OK. The new file type appears in the list now. When you access, for example, a file

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Opera will prompt you to save it to your hard disk.

Adjust the settings as shown below.




To minimize the storage of traces (evidence) of your Internet session, adjust the settings as shown below. See also the chapter on Cleaning traces below



Disable all Cookie functions.



When visiting a SSL (Secure Socket Layer, https) site, Opera uses the proxy server which is entered in the HTTPS field (see Proxy servers settings). If a proxy server without SSL support is used, the proxy server could become non-anonymous. Disable SSL2, SSL3, TLS1 and TLS1.1 if not needed, so the SSL connection won't be established in the first place. Press Security protocols and...



..disable SSL2, SSL3, TLS1 and TLS1.1.




Disable referrer logging and automatic redirection. If Opera shall run through a proxy server, press Proxy servers...




...and enter a proxy IP address and port for each protocol. Check the boxes next to the protocols to enable the proxy server access.




Press Ok to save the preferences. The configuration of Opera is finished now.

Some web pages may be inaccessible when using these settings. In this case you may enable some functions, preferably in this order:
Automatic redirection: Some sites try to load automatically another web site (redirection). If Automatic redirection is enabled, Opera automatically loads the requested page, otherwise it will prompt you for each redirection attempt.
Referrer logging: Each time a hyperlink is clicked or a form is submitted, the URL where the request came from is transmitted to the destination site. That is, a web site can see in the content of the CGI variable HTTP_REFERER, which site the user visited before. If referrer logging is disabled, HTTP_REFERER is empty. Yet some sites need that information to work properly. In this case it must be enabled.
Cookies: A cookie is a small file which a server places on your system. The information can be read by the server later again. Therefore cookies should be disabled. If a site requires cookies, first delete all previous cookies with Delete private data (see also the chapter about Cleaning traces below). Then enable the cookies, visit the site and disable cookies after the site was left.

Quick Preferences:
Some of the most important settings are available in the Quick Preferences menu too (press F12).





Cleaning traces:
We've adjusted Opera to leave a minimum of traces on the hard disk. Yet some files/information are still stored. cookie4.dat contains all cookies, vlink4.dat contains the history of visited URLs and download.dat contains a list of the downloaded files (full URL). In the folder Cache4 the files of the currently open browser windows are stored temporarily.
To delete this information go to Delete private data.




Press Advanced to expand the window. Check the information you want to remove (check all boxes for best results) and press Delete.