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Change User Agent string in Opera 12.02 ?? How ??


ZortMcGort11

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It is sometimes important to have a backup of your profile in %ApplicationData% folder. I experimented with the VLC YouTube playback idea this resulted in YouTube always connecting me in mobile mode. To fix this I had to delete my profile and copy over from another HDD. I hope they do not have speed limiters at the exchange in US because here in Australia once I exceeded the speed limit then it would halve the speed. The best results on dial-up was from an ISA modem as the software did not test the line and then lock you on at 21kbps for example. CometBird 9 should work it is faster than Opera if CPU is not that fast. See my latest post in 'How you really browse the web on 98/ME in 2019'

Edited by Goodmaneuver
typo
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M()zart said:


As for extensions for old Opera, I saw an advice to use web archive
http://wayback.archive.org/web/20130429225644/https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/



YES - Thank you!!
FINALLY, that link seems to work, and most important, it has also the archived Opera addons for download! :-)
And finally some example addons, which may be used for future own tweaks, if needed.
Major pity I didn't know about Opera12.02 some 5-8 years earlier, as fallback browser when a website wouldn't load. And meanwhile there are other alternatives available, with yet better TLS, thanks to roytam1.

The mean thing about waybackarchive is that they may collect all that precious old stuff, which is all great, but then will NOT ALLOW users of old machines to FIND it. Those users who really need that old stuff. No chance. And google doesn't help either to find direct wayback links.
Or if anyone knows a trick to FIND their archived sites with OLD browsers, please let me know how.
At any rate those usual search links with the /*/ inside have stopped working years ago.
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On mercoledì 24 luglio 2019 at 12:33 AM, ZortMcGort11 said:

@Loblo
I entered the string, but there was no way to save it. Once Opera is restarted it disappears.

@Schwups
Same thing, the string just disappears after re-starting Opera, even if I clicked "save."

^I might try these suggestions on Opera 11 and see if I have better luck than Opera 12. Thanks.

@Siria
Thanks for the information about Roytam1's programs... I will read those threads you linked to. But I'm not sure I will "upgrade" past basic old KernelEx 4.5.2. Sounds like there's a lot of potential problems if you don't know what you're doing, which I don't, and I don't want to have to format and re-install everything :-)

Welcome back!

Perhaps your operaprefs file has the read-only attribute.

Try also this. In your profile folder, you serach operaprefs.ini and manually add this string into [User Prefs] section: Custom User-Agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.8.1.20) Gecko/20081217 Firefox/2.0.0.20
 

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Just as info, since K-Meleon is often recommended especially for users with old systems.
Also KM1.5.4 for being the last version to run on *very* old systems natively,
without needing KernelEx or other tricks, like Windows98. Yet weirdly, the
K-Meleon FORUM is blocked for visitors with "Win98" in their UserAgent string!
Now tested the above string too, because it contains "Win 9x":
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win 9x 4.90; en-US; rv:1.8.1.20) Gecko/20081217 Firefox/2.0.0.20
And yeah, the forum seems blocked too.

On http://kmeleonbrowser.org/forum/
Error 403
We're sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /forum/index.php on this server.
You do not have permission to access this server.
Your technical support key is: 02f7-f43f-17f4-e8c8
You can use this key to fix this problem yourself.

FIX: use any younger system in the (fake) UA.
If the browser is started with a KernelEx compat setting, like Win2000 or "Windows NT" , all works fine too, since the browser thinks the KernelEx compat system were the real system and sends it as Default UA.

We suspect Sourceforge for that nonsense, where the KM homepage and forum are hosted :-(
They do strange things sometimes. Admittedly the Phorum software is very ancient too.
And to add insult to injury, users with this prob will get from the server no hint about the reason!
The help link in the error message leads to an external page (www.ioerror.us/bb2-support-key?key=...)
that says you're intentionally blocked due to supposedly "security" reasons with your system,
BUT - on old browsers that page refuses to open too! Looks like it needs modern TLS.
Result: even this info message is blocked too on old browsers! What an evil trick.

Just posting this here as hint that it's a bad idea to use Win9x in a fake UserAgent string
if anyone may want to visit the K-Meleon forum. Possibly some other sites too, no idea.
Include any other system instead, for example XP as in this fake IE7 string:
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

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Goodmaneuver said:


I am not using K-Meleon but it is only blocked with IE6 on my system. Because it is an unencrypted site I tried it with Maxthon and OK.


That means IE6 sends the real system (Win9x) in the useragent, and Maxthon a fake one (newer one). Either intentionally faked, or by a KernelEx compat setting - right...?
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IE6 used to be able to open the home page of thepiratebay.org which is encrypted. An earlier vs of Maxthon 2 was blocked by thepiratebay where as the latest 2.5.1000 which is the one I am using was not blocked. It is for this reason that I believe that Maxthon and my other browsers I am using are not sending an alias as I have not set up any. No apologies Maxthon is using a user agent Mozilla/4.0. The above statements are still true though. I can try removing alias? I just removed user agent and it still works opens Kmeleon forum no worries. A lot of the time the servers are too privy to be fooled by an alias.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
thepiratebay is now blocked was for several months to a year, I forgot.
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For some reason Maxthon would not render the page - (tried to could see screen flash) of mybrowserinfo so I tried it with IE6 and got

Your Browser User Agent String is Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; Win 9x 4.90; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

I thought Maxthon used IE6 engine. I then opened useragentstring with Maxthon and got

UserAgent.png

Maxthon is KEX set to Vista for some DLLs require it.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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Goodmaneuver said: Maxthon is KEX set to Vista for some DLLs require it.


Yep, that explains why you can read the KM-forum with it, but not with your IE6, which sends the default useragent with Win9x..
And running a browser with a KernelEx compat setting explains why the useragent it sends is faked, even if you reset it. The browsers do 'believe' the compat-system were the true system ;-)

It's really that simple in the case of KM-forum. The SF server is only interested in the system part of the useragent, no deeper checks of any sort.
Actually in my experience it happens hardly ever that a server does not believe in fake UAs.
Of course, they just can't dig deeper while javascript is blocked.
If JS is allowed, and perhaps even 3rd-party scripts and XHR, the servers can check themselves all sorts of details from your browser and settings.

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Goodmaneuver said: I thought Maxthon used IE6 engine. I then opened useragentstring with Maxthon and got


Just because the UA string is different does NOT mean that Maxthon were NOT using IE6.
It's just a little piece of text - and faked by KernelEx.

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 JS is not blocked I checked it out on mybrowserinfo.com with IE6; jscript.dll 5.7.6002.22145. Maxthon might have over-written the reg settings of UserAgent of IE6 found in reg. The web site knows that it is IE6 and says that mozilla/4.0 has no real meaning anymore. It is probably normal to have Mozilla4/0 in front of string, GetRight has agent Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows 98) found in registry, it is probably configured for IE as no other browser ticked in GetRight config. KEX settings on Maxthon gave the Vista OS vs info on useragentstring.com. I assigned IE6 with KEX settings of Vista and the KM-forum is now working in IE6 as you said. Yeah I think you may have misunderstood me on the "I thought Maxthon used IE6 engine"; it does I think. Thanks Siria, I should be more vigilant at reading though.

Edited by Goodmaneuver
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Goodmaneuver said:


The web site knows that it is IE6 and says that mozilla/4.0 has no real meaning anymore.


Yep that's right. All browser agents start with "Mozilla" because in the early days of the internet that was the main browser, and just like today, many web authors seem to code only for the currently biggest browser. So the other browsers started to claim they were that browser too. Same prob as years later with MS-IE. And today with Chrome. Most authors code only for the main browser and the users of smaller ones are forced to fake their "user agent string" and pretend to be that other browser, if they want to get the same code. Which in most cases works fine for them too - if they get it.

Since the "Mozilla" part has become so useless, the browser names appear now in the middle or even end of the strings. So it's no wonder those test website know (?) that you're using IE6, simply because the useragent string you send them claims exactly this: it contains "MSIE 6.0" in the middle. They'd just as well believe you're using Firefox if you'd send them a fake firefox string.

Here's a site with large collections of various UA strings, find such lists quite interesting:
https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/useragents/explore/software_type_specific/web-browser/
Or categorized: https://developers.whatismybrowser.com/useragents/explore/

Can still remember how slightly shocked I was when finally realizing the UA is not just about the browser, but additionally sends info about the system, and sometimes the language too!
When using such rare systems as Win98 today this info makes you much easier to track and recognize again.
Edited by siria
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While researching the kinda weird useragent result produced by my own, never-used ancient IE-browser, came across this really interesting site. Highly recommand for everyone interested in the useragent structure in general, what those "Windows NT" numbers mean exactly, or those ominious "NET CLR" elements, and especially how MSIE-strings are getting customized, etc.:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/internet-explorer/ie-developer/compatibility/ms537503(v=vs.85)

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