Opera tips and tricks: Clean re-install
Saturday, 21. June 2008, 10:01:13
Version 9.5 of our beloved Opera browser has arrived, and with it a pretty good number of changes.
You can of course just "upgrade" your browser. What I mean by that is you go to the download page and install the new version over the old version. But with a relatively major upgrade such as 9.5, it might be (understand "is") worth it to do a clean re-install. When you've been using Opera for a long time, all the customizations, plus the upgrades, plus this and that, can start to have a negative impact on performance (Like Windows does as time passes). Sometimes a good thorough scrubbing is a really good thing. And here, with a major upgrade, certain unanticipated problems may appear that can be avoided by starting with a clean slate.
So!
You can of course just "upgrade" your browser. What I mean by that is you go to the download page and install the new version over the old version. But with a relatively major upgrade such as 9.5, it might be (understand "is") worth it to do a clean re-install. When you've been using Opera for a long time, all the customizations, plus the upgrades, plus this and that, can start to have a negative impact on performance (Like Windows does as time passes). Sometimes a good thorough scrubbing is a really good thing. And here, with a major upgrade, certain unanticipated problems may appear that can be avoided by starting with a clean slate.
So!
- Backup your bookmarks by copying the file "opera6.adr", located in your Opera "profile" folder, to your desktop. You may want to back up other things as well.
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- Uninstall Opera with your operating systems uninstall function ("Add or Remove Programs" in the Control panel in Windows)
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- Be sure to manually delete all Opera files that may be in your system. In Windows, files can exist in C:\Program files, but also in various user profiles (C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Application data and or \local settings\Application data. Thus, to find them all you'll want to use your systems search feature (include hidden folders and files) to find anything with "opera" in the name and delete it--except of course your mp3 of Don Giovanni
It doesn't hurt to restart your computer at this point.
- Run a registry cleaning program (I use Ccleaner), which will remove all (well, most) orphaned opera registry entries.
It doesn't hurt to restart your computer again at this point.
- Open (gulp) another browser (IE, Safari, Fx) -- I know, it hurts, but 'ya gotta do it -- and go to www.opera.com to re-download the new version.
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- Recopy the files that you backed up into their respective new folders. Be aware that some may have changed location. For example in your previous version of Opera, your "Profile" folder may have been at C:\Program files\Opera. In 9.5 it is probably at C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile (If you're in Windows).
Of course, you are going to need to "rebuild" your Opera to your liking, but a clean re-install is worth it. You'll be amazed at how it improves Opera's performance, and most importantly you'll avoid any "local" bugs.
WIDGETIZE
My suggestion is install Opera in a new path & copy your settings from old Opera. If you are satisfied with new Opera, keep it & uninstall old Opera or vice-versa.
By Tamil, # 21. June 2008, 10:43:18
Do this as step one, and no "gulp" is needed
- ØØ -
By NoteMe, # 21. June 2008, 13:03:26
So - someone is really wrong about this stuff. "Clean install works wonders" or "you can run as many Operas as you like without ill effect" - only one can be true.
I'm not taking a position, only pointing out the inconsistency. A resolution I can imagine is that installing to a new folder really IS a clean install. Having gotten down to bare metal on many Opera issues (such as verifying that toolbar on/off settings via Opera:config are completely ineffective, creating nonfunctional lines in Opera6.ini which Opera devs mistakenly imagine will do something while on/off is actually controlled by lines in toolbar.ini) I know there is a truth, and that it won't emerge from opinionizing: someone needs to actually know, line by line, what harm if any "registry crud" can do, and so forth.
By bpm, # 29. June 2008, 19:28:05
Oh, there are moments when I have more than one install of Opera, and I am certainly not really qualified to say why, but when I do a clean re-install, the browser just roars. Moreso than a second install does in a new folder.
But of course, I can only speak from my own experience and something we see all the time in the forums is how different people have different results with various issues. Who knows, perhaps it has something to do with a particular setup in the operating system, or some other digital mystery.
NoteMe said: "Do this as step one, and no "gulp" is needed"
Good tip! "Pre-downloading" the .exe is a good idea.
By Wandering electrons, # 29. June 2008, 20:57:48
Thanks - I'm going to give this a try. I think every version of Opera I've updated/installed over the last year stored somewhere on this computer (I did eventually move files off c drive to 2nd drive though). I keep giving it new names and my opera on this computer (my desktop) is real quirky and crashes a lot - especially with 9.51.
When I got a new laptop, I downloaded Opera then updated it to 9.51 and it hasn't crashed and the quirks that exist in Opera on my desktop don't exist on my laptop. (Which indicates it's this computer.) I do registry cleanings and clean out temp files very regularly - so I'm thinking that I'm gonna take your advice and get rid of everything and start over.
Had to laugh over "(gulp) open a new browser" because that's how I feel whenever I have to open IE or Firefox. I dread it! Ugh! But I'll download the exe file from Opera I think then install it. Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope and pray my fifty gazillion personalizations won't disappear...which is why I'm procrastinating this...and I'm a pack rat...hopefully I'll copy the profile/bookmark/toolbar/note/widget/wand stuff over okay...
Your article had everything in it I was looking for! Thanks!
By anonymous user, # 20. August 2008, 17:12:29