Opera is a long-standing browser and one with well-deserved respect.

As an internet browser it is very fast to display pages and also very secure, with very few security problems reported and none unpatched at the time of writing.

Opera has had tabbed browsing for many years and this version introduced what Opera called Speed Dial. When a new tab is opened nine favourites are displayed as shortcuts to frequently used sites. A phising filter helps protect against malicious attempts to steal personal information and the content blocker can be used to remove ads from pages.

Opera also pioneered the concept of mouse gestures. Hold down the right mouse button and move the mouse to go back, open a new tab or perform many other tasks. Rolling the mouse wheel with the right mouse button down cycles through the open tabs, which is very useful.

A Bit Torrent client is built into the browser for easy downloading of files in this way. It is possible to stop sharing the files if bandwidth is a problem. A full list of all the other features can be found on the Opera webpage.

The browser is also very useful for anyone designing webpages as it can display pages in a variety of modes to see how pages will look in accessible modes. The Fit to Width option is great when screen space is tight as it resizes the images in the page.

Opera 9.27 contains a number of small security fixes as well as improving the stability of Bit Torrent downloads.