Although Opera is now facing even more competition than it did before (Google's Chrome), the Opera team has released a new version of their hefty web browser, improving v.9.5-specific features like Opera Link and Opera Mail, as well as the Scroll Marker. Still, the 9.6 update mostly packs security tweaks, making it a must have for Mac, Windows and Linux users alike.

Sifting through the update's changelog, we noticed that Opera Link now puts custom search engines and typed history alongside bookmarks, notes, personal bar and Speed Dial. As regards Mail, Opera now sports a cool feed preview, allowing you to preview an RSS/Atom feed before subscribing, with the ability to Follow/Ignore threads and contacts being added. According to the development team, the two features are aimed at users that receive numerous messages. Follow or Ignore them makes it easier to dismiss unimportant messages, and hold on to the important ones.

As noted above, Opera 9.6 is also a recommended security and stability upgrade. One fixed issue refers to specially crafted addresses that could execute arbitrary code. Also, Java applets can no longer be used to read sensitive information.

For Mac users alone, the Opera team has made form buttons with zero padding “prettier,” but also fixed an issue where opening the Java Console would freeze Opera on Mac.

Opera is a standard-compliant Web browser for Mac OS X, Unix, Windows, QNX, Symbian, OpenBSD and several other operating systems. It offers Mac-specific features such as keychain access in forms and a cookie manager, and it is also the first Mac browser to be available as a shared library. Developers can now include the Opera shared library within their applications. With the release of Opera 9.5 in June this year, the web browser added new features, like Opera Link, which syncs your bookmarks and history across all your devices, but also improved fraud protection, and a significantly altered set of keyboard shortcuts.

Both the Universal and Intel-only versions of the updated web browser are available below for immediate download.

Opera 9.6 for Intel Macs

Opera 9.6 Universal Binary