When you run the Opera 5.0 installer you'll see a dialog box that explains that the program is free as long as you accept a banner advertising feature. The ad space is a tiny browser window that floats alongside the Opera toolbar. Basically, Opera is a lean, no-frills browser and for that reason it works fast. For example, Opera loads cached pages more than twice as fast as Netscape 6. Opera also works very well on older computers, with slower processors, limited memory and not much disk space.
Opera offers the usual features, such as e-mail, address book, newsgroup reading, and Internet chat.
It also conforms to Web standards for Java, JavaScript, 128-bit encryption for secure online banking, cascading style sheets, and so on. But what makes it interesting is an array of original features that make the Web more useful and less annoying. For example, the program can remember the Web page you last visited, so that your next browsing session picks up where you left off. Opera also has a number of clever, single-key shortcuts. Hit the plus or minus key to magnify or reduce the entire page, graphics and all.