Due to the growing by leaps and bounds number of restrictions and prohibitions on visiting a particular resource on the Internet, the topic of using VPN technologies has become especially relevant today. The following are some basic decisions on how to enable VPN mode in Opera. But for a complete understanding of the issue, it is first worth highlighting several theoretical aspects. Maybe someone doesn’t need such information, but getting acquainted with it still will not hurt.
What is VPN (VPN) and what is it for?
Let's start with the basics. And for a start, let's figure out what such technologies are. Initially, the abbreviation VPN itself was formed from the English phrase Virtual Private Network (private virtual network), but over time it acquired a broader meaning.
The basis of such technologies is the principle of so-called tunneling with encryption of outgoing and incoming traffic (transmitted and received data). When information passes through such a tunnel, it is absolutely impossible to access it from the side.
But today, even information protection is not an urgent issue. The fact is that VPN in a sense resembles the functioning of anonymizers (anonymous proxy servers), which allow you to hide the true external IP address of the computer from which the request to the server is made, and replace it with another one. But if the proxy addresses change all the time (dynamic IP), when VPN is activated, the address can remain constant (static IP) and correspond to the territorial location of the user computer in a completely different location, which differs from its real location.
Benefits of Using VPN
How is it profitable? And by the fact that, having decided how to enable VPN in "Opera" on a PC, you can use all the advantages of such technologies to access banned or blocked sites (we consider "Opera" only because it is the first and best browser with built-in VPN by customer).
If we talk about real examples, in this mode of operation, you can easily listen to American Internet radio stations, access to which is open only to those who are territorially located in the United States. In connection with the latest events in Ukraine, when the Russian social networks and services Yandex and Mail.Ru, as well as many news sites, were blocked at the state level, the use of VPN allows you to circumvent such restrictions. In some countries, even resources such as the popular YouTube video hosting and social networks like Facebook and Twitter are blocked, and the VPN mode allows you to access them without problems.
How to enable VPN in Opera after the first launch of the browser?
But so far, all of the above applies exclusively to the theoretical part. It's time to practice. So, the question of how to enable VPN in “Opera” should be considered from the moment of downloading and installing the browser itself.
The built-in client is not available in all versions, but only in the latest ones. Therefore, you must first visit the official website of the developer (opera.com), download the installation distribution package for the browser, which has a built-in client, and then install it on your computer.
After the first launch of the browser, the client is in an inactive state, and there are no buttons on the panel to activate this mode. For the first start of the client, you must enter the settings using the button with the browser logo located at the top left.
In the settings window that appears, so as not to search for the desired section for a long time, simply enter the VPN shortcut in the search field on the right. In the results, the client is usually shown first. To activate it, just select the checkbox on the corresponding inclusion item. You can also go directly to the security section.
How to enable VPN in the Opera browser after the initial activation of the mode
Initial activation completed. And now we can talk about how to enable VPN directly from the browser’s main panel in Opera, because the corresponding icon appeared to the left of the address bar. In active mode, it is blue, in disconnected mode it is transparent, and at the time of connection it is colored in orange.
Now the question of how to enable VPN or disable this mode in “Opera” is reduced to just clicking on the icon, and in the pop-up window that appears, set the switch to the desired position, although the location settings (country selection) can be personalized rather than used auto mode.
How to activate VPN on mobile devices?
On mobile devices, the Opera Mini browser version is more commonly used. But here you can also use the built-in client. You can include VPN in Opera Mini.
After installing the application on the mobile device and its first launch, you must use the “Get started” button and click the “Next” button several times until the screen displays a request for permission to connect, which means using VPN. Confirm the permission and click the "Connect" button. After that, an automatic connection to the nearest server will occur.
To change the settings in the browser, you need to use the region change point and select the preferred country from which you seem to be in the list.
Alternative activation methods
Of course, it’s very good that the latest browser versions have a built-in client. But if someone does not like his work, the question of how to enable VPN in Opera can be solved by the classical method - by installing an additional extension like Zenmate. You can do this from the appropriate section. Since initially there are no add-ons, you need to click on the link to the gallery, select the necessary applet and integrate it into the browser. In this case, it is not recommended to install and activate several add-ons of the same type, since their joint use can cause conflicts and disrupt the performance of the browser itself.
Total
Actually, turning on VPN mode in Opera is not so difficult. But in the end, you need to give one practical advice. The fact is that some users allegedly try to activate Turbo mode to speed up access to web pages. Enabling it will disable the built-in client. Keep this in mind! Well, the situation with mobile systems is even simpler, since you don’t need to look for the client in the settings, because the application itself at the first start will suggest using this type of connection.