done 😉

Oh yes! Signed!

Still a loyal Opera 12 user here 😀

I was quite shocked to see the "new" Opera and how much of an infection problem it has...enough so that with the exception of one machine that didn't get the update, I'm now an Internet Explorer user. 😐

Also - perhaps it's a bad link, but it shows "sign this petition - 0 signatures" - I would expect it should have AT LEAST 3 (the three people who posted here), if not many more; any ideas?

old Opera user here as well... since 2000 or so.
the "new" Opera is NOT Opera unfortunately...

It appears that, at least for now, you can download Opera 12 from Opera ASA's FTP source:
http://arc.opera.com/pub/opera/

You'll have to select based on your platform and then pick whichever version you want. If I'm reading things correctly it goes through 12.11.

Wow, there's a Meego version too! Reminds me I really want a Nokia N900 again.

The latest version for Windows XP and up (12.16 build 1860) can still be found here: http://www.opera.com/download/get/?id=35879
For Windows 2000 I think you need 12.11 or 12.12.

jwt27 wrote:

Wow, there's a Meego version too! Reminds me I really want a Nokia N900 again.

The latest version for Windows XP and up (12.16 build 1860) can still be found here: http://www.opera.com/download/get/?id=35879
For Windows 2000 I think you need 12.11 or 12.12.

Thanks for finding that one! Just put 12.11 x64 on a new machine - it seems to work fine, but was wondering where 12.16 had gone.

obobskivich wrote:

I was quite shocked to see the "new" Opera and how much of an infection problem it has...

What's with the new versions' security issues? I've been very fond of the old Opera and even attempted a downgrade after the new Chromium-based stuff started pouring in, but for some reason the performance of the old versions seemed to degrade, perhaps due to incompatibility with the new AdBlock? (the only plug-in I use)

MrFlibble wrote:

obobskivich wrote:

I was quite shocked to see the "new" Opera and how much of an infection problem it has...

What's with the new versions' security issues? I've been very fond of the old Opera and even attempted a downgrade after the new Chromium-based stuff started pouring in, but for some reason the performance of the old versions seemed to degrade, perhaps due to incompatibility with the new AdBlock? (the only plug-in I use)

By "infection" I meant "Google." 😊

I've read that 12.11-12.14 may do better (compatibility wise) than 12.16; personally I haven't noticed a big difference between 12.11 x64, 12.15 IA-32, and 12.16 IA-32 (on 3 different machines).

As far as ad-blocking - I don't like AdBlock because it has never worked well in Opera in my experience, and recently they allow "premium advertisers" to pay to bypass it. Further, a lot of websites/services will block AdBlock to force their advertisements anyways (some forums, for example, won't let you register if you use AdBlock, or will banish you for talking about AdBlock). There are equivalent, lighter, and better alternatives within Opera.

First, modified hosts file (which is a global security measure) - MVPS Hosts: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (you have to manually update this one periodically; it's quite simple)
and second, Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/ (which does more than just block adverts; it also works in IE)

Dumping Google as your primary search engine will also unload quite a lot of advertising and garbage from your system - they spit out an alarming number of trackers everytime you visit, and that both changes and increases the amount of advertising you see on the web. 😒

obobskivich wrote:

I've read that 12.11-12.14 may do better (compatibility wise) than 12.16; personally I haven't noticed a big difference between […]
Show full quote

I've read that 12.11-12.14 may do better (compatibility wise) than 12.16; personally I haven't noticed a big difference between 12.11 x64, 12.15 IA-32, and 12.16 IA-32 (on 3 different machines).

As far as ad-blocking - I don't like AdBlock because it has never worked well in Opera in my experience, and recently they allow "premium advertisers" to pay to bypass it. Further, a lot of websites/services will block AdBlock to force their advertisements anyways (some forums, for example, won't let you register if you use AdBlock, or will banish you for talking about AdBlock). There are equivalent, lighter, and better alternatives within Opera.

First, modified hosts file (which is a global security measure) - MVPS Hosts: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm (you have to manually update this one periodically; it's quite simple)
and second, Ghostery: https://www.ghostery.com/ (which does more than just block adverts; it also works in IE)

Thanks for the detailed response and the links!