Trying to like Opera

Trying to like Opera

...and it has a lot going for it. I have it set as my default browser. However, whenever I click on an e-mail link in my e-mail program, Opera opens but does not connect to the link. I must Open Opera first and load a tab for an e-mailed link to work. This extra step is a hassle and is bothersome enough that I am considering going back to another browser. I can't seem to find anything in settings to alter this behavior. This also ties in to another annoying property: There seems to be no way to have Opera simply open up into a blank tab by default. The options appear to be the "speed dial," or a Home Page, neither of which I want. In fact, one of the things I sorely miss is a link bar at the top which houses frequently accessed URL's (most other browsers have one). I realize these "character differences" help Opera to be distinctive, but sometimes, creating an interface design that is NOT the norm is just an irritation, not an improvement. The small differences in Opera force me to re-learn behaviors which have become the norm in most browsers, and the extra steps required to get my work done are putting me off. If I'm missing something in the settings which would help me alter things to my liking, please chime in.

For your first problem see this thread

For your second problem pressing F1 and reading the help file would have solved that for you.
But as I'm feeling in a good mood see Speed Dial and read the part about Configuring Speed Dial. That will give you an empty tab instead.

Problem number three. Click on Shift+F12 select the Toolbars tab and select Personal bar. I'm guessing that's what you mean by a "link bar".

Hide Speed Dial or Save a session with blank tab. O Menu -> Tabs and Windows -> Sessions -> Save This Session... -> Change your homepage to open a session and select the one you created.

The 10.51 as your first try on Opera browser? 10.10 --> http://www.opera.com/browser/download/?os=windows&list=all

Thanks for your suggestions. I will give them a try. I HAVE spent some time in the help files, but apparently...not enough, or I didn't search the appropriate topic. Somehow the proper search phrase seemed to elude me and I was not able to drag up the a forum topic covering the first issue. Been a Firefox user for years and am now just getting off that horse.

I had success in getting Opera to open into a tabbed page from an external e-mail link by going into [file associations], and removing the quotes which, by default, surrounded the path statement, and appending: [space] "%1" to the end of the path string.