Q5PMo/T0yOhOUKNmI/AAAAAAAABvE/tCQEoRbCx6Y/s1600/asoundrc.jpg' alt='Windows 7 64 Bit Adobe Flash Player Crashes Constantly' title='Windows 7 64 Bit Adobe Flash Player Crashes Constantly' />Opera Free download and software reviews Opera shares most of its guts with Google Chrome, but the Web browser distinguishes itself with features like a built in ad blocker, claims of improved battery life on laptops, and the option to watch You.Tube videos in a floating window.Pros. Supports most Chrome extensions Since Opera and Chrome have so much code in common, its not difficult to create native Opera versions of popular extensions like Last.Pass, u. Block Origin, Reddit Enhancement Suite, and Pocket.And if a developer hasnt created an Opera version yet, Download Chrome Extension can install extensions directly from the Chrome Web Store, so Opera users shouldnt miss out on many Chrome add ons. Babylon 4 Minbari Project Free . Saves laptop battery life Opera does some clever wizardry in the background to extend battery life on a laptop.We cant guarantee any particular number, because battery life depends a lot on your screens brightness and resolution, and whether youre streaming HD videos or just browsing Wikipedia.Either way, enabling or disabling power saving is a quick toggle at the top of your screen.Handy You. Tube video pop outs When you browse You.Tube with Opera, you can click an additional button in the top of the video frame to pop the video out to a separate window.You can drag it around and resize it, and it will float on top of other windows.That is, it wont disappear if you put another app window in the foreground, so you can multitask without losing your video.The original browser tab where you found that video must remain open, though.Cons. Default security and privacy settings could be better Opera Software routinely advertises its browser as a safe option.However, it uses navigation prediction services that require sending anonymized data about your usage habits over the Internet to be analyzed by a remote server.This can be disabled, but its not by default, and you have to search Google to figure out how these services work and what they expose.Form autofilling is also enabled by default another feature that favors convenience over safety.If an unauthorized person gets access to your device, they can pull up what youve entered into a form just by experimenting with the alphabet, potentially giving them your home address, phone number, and other sensitive info.Opera also has a setting to protect me from malicious sites, but the setting doesnt explain what this entails.Searching for extensions is hit or miss We got some odd search results on Operas website when looking for extensions to install.Adobe-Shockwave-Player-img-4030845200_0.png' alt='Windows 7 64 Bit Adobe Flash Player Crashes Constantly' title='Windows 7 64 Bit Adobe Flash Player Crashes Constantly' />Adobe Flash Player Freeware play Flash in your browser.Searching for Gmail produced two pages of extensions, which was good.But searching for Google produces only six extensions, none of which are Gmail.Why does a more generic query return a fraction of the results and exclude an obvious ingredient Installing Adobe Flash is relatively tricky Adobes once universal Internet streaming video tech is finally on its way out, but many legacy websites still require it.Unlike Chrome, Opera does not have Adobe Flash built in.Googling for ways to add it produces outdated instructions from Adobe and Opera Software about enabling a setting that no longer exists.You have to go to the Adobe Flash plug in webpage once youve Googled it while using Opera the website uses its own voodoo to determine which Flash installer to deliver to you.But you wont see the download button if you have an ad blocker enabled.Bottom Line Since Opera is basically Chromes fraternal twin, if it wants to compete with Chrome, it has to be better, and thats a hard act to follow.However, Operas benefit to battery life is one point in its favor Chrome has a reputation for inefficient battery use.And some users will appreciate the video pop out.Since you can get all the major Chrome extensions without much fuss, its hard to make a case against Opera.Its definitely a worthy Web browser in its own right and might make Google reconsider some of its decisions on Chrome.