Opera is one of the historical browsers of computers, always a great alternative to Firefox and Internet Explorer, which has fallen a bit, in terms of reputation and popularity, in recent years due to the choice to also rely on Chromium, becoming too similar to Chrome. A recent change now makes Opera an attractive browser again, to be downloaded and used, at least in certain circumstances, when you want to open sites that may have been obscured or censored in Italy or to camouflage the origin of the internet connection, without being identified and browsing more secure.
The new function is the possibility of activating a connection behind VPN in Opera, that is, a tunnel between two internet connections that allows to cover the real origin of the computer used and to encrypt the transmission of data making it not interceptable.
Put simply, it is possible to make the sites we visit with Opera think that our position is, for example, in the USA, making available those services that are only in the USA.
Opera is the first major browser to have such an integrated service, which is free and unlimited, while most VPNs are paid or limited in traffic.
To use Opera's VPN, you need to download and install the latest version of the latest version of Opera on a Windows or Mac PC.
After installing and opening Opera, you can activate the VPN by pressing the Menu button on the top left.
Then go to Settings and then to the Confidentiality and Security tab where you will find the option that activates Opera's VPN .
Then put the cross on the " Enable VPN " option, under which it is written that it is a " Secure proxy provided by SurfEasy Inc., an Opera company based in Canada " service.
Opera's VPN is also in the Opera browser for Android .
Here you can go into the settings (from the button with the O) to activate the VPN service that will work when you open a site on a reserved tab.
By tapping on the VPN option you can also choose the virtual location, whether to use it for all the cards and not only for the reserved ones and whether to exclude the VPN for searches.
To open the reserved tab, press the button at the bottom of the tabs, tap on Reserved and then on the + at the bottom.
Note that Opera's one is not reported by Android as a real VPN (in which case there would be a notification).
After activating the VPN option, try to open a site like Navigaweb.net and note in the upper left, near the site address, the blue icon with the word VPN.
By clicking on it you can activate or deactivate the VPN with a switch and choose whether to make sure that our connection is viewed as coming from the USA, Canada or Germany.
Depending on the state chosen, you can see how the websites change language or you can read the advertisements no longer in Italian, because the site thinks that we are connected from the USA or Germany .
From the box that appears by pressing on the VPN icon, you can also read the graph of monthly data traffic using the service, which as mentioned has no limits at the moment.
Opera's VPN mode, however, has a limit because it does not support WebRTC traffic which allows sites to understand if we are using a VPN or a proxy.
To have maximum identity coverage it would therefore be necessary to install an extension on Opera called webRTC Leak Prevent.
In the extension options, activate all crosses and select Disable non-proxied UDP (force proxy) in the drop-down menu.
The Opera Browser VPN itself is now also an Opera VPN app for iPhone and iPad .
Opera's VPN is one of the best out there, fast, reliable, you can browse normally without suffering any slowdown and it is completely free without limitations so that you could leave it active all the time.
The problem with Opera's VPN is that it is mostly a proxy, which does not really cover the identity of the computer used and that encryption does not concern all internet traffic (traffic generated by plugins and by WebRTC is not filtered) .
In practice it is not, at the moment, a service that renders anonymous as TOR Browser is, even if it may be, it will be improved before it is introduced in the stable version of the Opera browser.
The VPN is still a very useful service to connect to blocked sites so that you can enjoy content that would not be allowed in Italy for copyright, permission or censorship reasons.
It is also a great way to try out new features from sites like Google and Facebook which often launch services only in the USA for an initial test.
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