AVG joins Opera on stage

The first beta of Opera 10.60 was released only two weeks ago, and it graduates to a wide release and sheds its beta tag. Opera 10.60 for Windows, Mac, and Linux incorporates security enhancements provided by popular freeware antivirus vendor AVG, improves performance, adds further HTML5 compatibility, and makes a noticeable tweak to the browser interface. New security feature indicates that while Chrome and Firefox are looking to further isolate plug-ins and add-ons, Opera address the immediate threat from malware-infected sites. Opera now comes with AVG's real-time Web threat data feed built in. It means when you encounter a page that's been detected by the AVG network to be malicious, you'll see the warning instead.

New feature uses multiple techniques to protect users. It uses exploit signatures to detect sites serving drive-by downloads, the AVG Online Shield and contextual analysis to detect social engineering scam-driven viruses, and reputation lists for safeguarding against malicious URLs.

Version 10.60 is compatible with several nascent HTML5 features, including the next-generation video and audio codec WebM, geolocation compatibility, Web Workers, and App Cache. This update places Opera at or very close to parity with beta and development versions of Chrome and Firefox. Opera has also created an HTML5-geolocation-powered map showing real-time downloads and active users of Opera. The Windows changelog, Mac changelog, and Linux changelog are available at the Opera Web site.