Admittedly, finding and applying Opera's configuration tools used to be like trying to conduct Wagner's Ring Cycle without a score. Then, in version 8, the company consolidated the configuration options into four easy-to-use submenus under Tools on the menu bar, where they can easily be found for quick tweaking.

To really get under the hood, in version 9 there's a new Preferences Editor (enter "opera:config" in the address bar). With it you can configure anything, from Author Display Mode to Colors to Fonts to Security to Widgets. Each setting gets its own line with a checkbox or pick list, and each can be easily reset to the default setting which makes it fairly safe to tinker. Nevertheless, this is a powerful tool, so novices should stick to the menus if they aren't sure what they're doing.

Safe and secure

By default, Opera's security is conservative but not restrictive. Most cookies are allowed, most pop-ups rejected, and so on, but any of these settings can be changed under the "Quick preferences" menu. Of course, since Opera doesn't support Active X controls or Visual Basic, it avoids those notorious IE vulnerabilities.

There's also the "security by obscurity" factor. With a small share of the browser market, Opera doesn't present much of a target for black hats -- and that's the way I like it. (Which means, I suppose, that by writing this I'm shooting myself in the foot, shining a spotlight on Opera. But I hate to see you missing out on a great thing.)