According to Opera.com, Opera 9 was introduced in 2006 as the first browser using Widgets -- small online plug-ins running on their own windows. This version also integrated a BitTorrent client as one of its plug-ins, with torrent users only needing the browser to download torrent files. Opera 9 also introduced a better content blocker and a thumbnail-style preview of tabbed sites.
Opera 9 had four additional versions: 9.1, 9.2, 9.5 and 9.6. Version 9.1 had better protection against phishing (fraudulent acts stealing a web user's personal information), while 9.2 introduced "Speed Dial Browsing" or the process in which a blank web page already contains tabs of the user's favorite websites. Version 9.5 was released as a precursor to version 10, with technical improvements related to better functionality all across different operating systems. The last version before Opera 10, version 9.6, was released with an improved history function and better Opera mail functionality.
Opera 10 containes all the updated features of version 9, with additional technical improvements, such as HTML support in emails, an updated debugger, auto-update, and speed optimizations. The most highlighted update in version 10 is the Opera Turbo, which is an add-on that detects a user's internet connection speed and provides an option to compress web pages for better speed. Opera 10 was released in September 2009, with a record of 10 million downloads in its first week.
Opera 10 only had two updated versions: 10.5 and 10.6. Version 10.5 has several updates, with additional features including a better Javascript engine and better graphics processor, known as "Vega," which makes image downloading faster. Most of the mini-versions of 10.5 also feature fixes and technical improvements. Version 10.6 is claimed by Opera Software to be 50 percent faster than version 10.5, with features that include an integrated AVG malware protection kit, an improved Speed Dial Browsing feature and Geolocation, a feature that distinguishes a computer's actual physical location.