Opera Software has released Opera 54.0, the latest version of its Chromium-based browser for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The new release adds two new features: the first allows users to set up customized news feeds on the main Speed Dial page. The second makes it possible to recover the browser and settings more easily thanks to a visible new Update & Recovery menu section.

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Mozilla has released Firefox Quantum 61.0 for desktop, along with Firefox for Android 61.0. The new release sells itself on major performance improvements, security updates and some user interface changes and tweaks. Also improved is the bookmark sync function and access to search engines.

Performance enhancements are numerous in Firefox 61: first, there are updates to Quantum’s CSS support to speed up page rendering, which apply to both Android and desktop users.

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People are worried about their personal security. Who do you trust? Facebook recently admitted it tracks just about everything you do whilst using its network, whereas one of the biggest technology companies in the UK, Dixons Carphone, announced a huge data loss.

You have to ask yourself, if a technology company can’t safeguard your data, who can you trust? On top, do you trust your web browser? What’s it storing, what information does it pass to the manufacturer and to the website you are browsing?

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At the moment there are a couple of ways to install Chrome extensions -- either via the Chrome Web Store as Google would prefer, or via an inline installation from any website.

Aware that this latter option opens up the possibility of people installing malicious extensions, Google is clamping down. Starting today, all newly-published extensions can only be installed via the Chrome Web Store, and this restriction will extend to existing extensions over the remainder of the year.

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Trend Micro has a new privacy-focused mobile browser for iOS users called Zero Browser. It has been designed specifically to block a range of tracking techniques, including the invasive activity-recording "session replay" method.

The company says that the browser was created to overcome the shortcomings of existing "incognito" browsing modes and brings an extra level of privacy to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

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Conducting a web search on mobile -- unless you’re incredibly specific -- is hit or miss. Want to test it out, just use your device’s voice assistant to conduct a search.

Siri or Google Assistant will commonly return an unrelated series of results, more than they should anyway. Then, you have to sort through lengthy search listings to find what you’re looking for, hopping from website to website until you find what you need. Even then, a single website might not contain the full amount of information you’re looking for. Sorting through the results manually isn’t any more accurate, however. And the smaller the display, the fewer results you’ll be able to sort through, making the process that much more tedious.

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Opera Software has launched Opera Touch 1.0 a mobile app for Android (with iOS due to follow shortly). It joins existing mobile apps Opera and Opera Mini.

The new app is designed to work in tandem with Opera’s desktop browser using Flow, a means of instantly sharing tabs between desktop and mobile. It’s also been optimized to facilitate fast web searches and for one-handed use.

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Recognizing that comparatively few people are using its Edge browser, Microsoft has released a new security tool for those who have opted to use Google Chrome -- the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension.

The add-on offers real-time protection against a variety of online threats such as phishing attacks and malicious websites. As these security options are already available in Chrome, it's not clear quite who the extension is aimed at.

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Mozilla has launched a new version of Firefox for iOS, and the big news is that it now has Tracking Protection turned on by default.

It comes shortly after the feature was added to the desktop version of the web browser, and protection is enabled by default in both regular and private browsing modes. This release also sees the arrival of some great new features in the iPad version, including tab re-ordering, and drag and drop support for links.

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In a move to bring simpler yet stronger web authentication to internet users, the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are launching a new standard called Web Authentication (WebAuthn).

WebAuthn enables online service providers to offer FIDO Authentication through web browsers. FIDO Authentication makes web access more secure because it uses unique encrypted credentials for each site, eliminating the risk that a password stolen from one site can be used on another.

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The far-reaching tentacles of the likes of Google and Facebook have focused people's attention on online privacy, but for anyone looking to retain a modicum of confidentiality it can be hard to know what to do. There are VPN tools, but these are not for everyone, for anyone looking for a quick solution, Avast Secure Browser could be the answer.

This new Chromium-based browser is billed as being "private, fast, and secure" and it's designed to address the misconceptions many people have about privacy and security online. The browser is a renamed and updated version of SafeZone.

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If you're a user of Xmarks, there's some bad news for you -- the service is closing down in a month's time. The bookmark syncing tool, which is available as an addon for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari, is to be shuttered on May 1.

Very little fuss is being made about the closure by the company behind it -- something which is perhaps indicative of the level of interest there is in the service these days. A banner at the top of the Xmarks website reads: "LogMeIn is retiring Xmarks from its line of products as of May 1, 2018. After this date, you will no longer have access to Xmarks."

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Ads may be central to the running of the web, but that doesn't mean people want to see them. Ad blocking is more popular than ever, and it's something that's been noted by Mozilla.

Revealing its 2018 roadmap for Firefox, the company says that an ad blocker is being added to the web browser -- albeit a limited one. On top of this, additional privacy controls are on the cards, as is a tool to block auto playing videos, and a breach alert system.

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Opera Software has released Opera 52.0, the latest version of its Chromium-based browser for Windows, Mac and Linux.

The main highlight in this new release is the unveiling of a faster ad-blocker tool. In addition, users gain the ability to select multiple tabs with a variety of related actions, including a brand new option for copying Web URLs. There are also new animations to accompany error and warning messages.

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Vivaldi Technology has announced a new collaboration with the privacy-centric search engine DuckDuckGo. In coming together, DuckDuckGo will be made the default search engine in a Private Window.

The aim is to further increase the privacy offered by the Vivaldi web browser, helping to ensure that searches that are conducted in a Private Window really are private.

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