Slowly but surely, Opera is setting a new bar for secure and fast Web browsing. Leaving aside for this version any significant improvements in its already top-notch interface usability and appearance, this free browser has focused all its attention on improving its privacy settings with a built-in VPN solution (SurfEasy) and a prediction system to reduce the page loading time to as close to zero as possible.
After leading the way on the field of browser design by creating the first tabbed interface, introducing the themes concept for interface customization, and paving the way to all current thumbnail-based bookmark pages with its Speed Dial, Opera is now all about speed and privacy. They claim to have reduced startup time in 13% as compared to the previous version and to have brought page loading time down to almost zero. To offer a faster startup time, Opera uses PGO (Profile Guided Optimization) to make their software run faster on Windows, and to reduce page loading time they have introduced a mechanism that predicts the website you want to visit faster than most browsers, taking you there before you finish writing your request. All these new features add up to its page compression technology, which already made Opera stand out in this area in the past. All of these speed-up new features have a very important side effect that is worth noting – the extension of your battery life by – according to Opera – up to 50%. Laptop users will surely welcome this achievement. more
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