Opera 9.5 RC 1 Now Download-able

Internet browsers trying to play catch-up again! Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner has released Opera 9.5 release candidate 1 (RC 1) for desktops five days after Mozilla released Firefox 3 RC 2. Opera 9.5 RC 1 is now available for download from the Opera Web site.

Opera 9.5 RC 1 attempts to bolster security with anti-phishing and anti-malware technology. For instance, Opera users will now get warning messages upon visiting hacked Web sites carrying Trojans and malicious code as part of the 'Fraud Protection' feature that draws on the likes of Haute Secure, Netcraft, PhishTank, and Google. Meanwhile, Firefox 3 RC 2 downloads an updated blacklist of malicious Web sites provided by Stopbadware.org, a group co-founded by Google.

Apart from enhanced security, Opera 9.5 RC 1 includes a new skin for Windows and Mac platforms along with a fix for all POP accounts to download email messages. There's also a new 'Opera Link' feature in RC 1 that enables easy synchronization of bookmarks between different devices running different versions of Opera.