How to remove Google from Opera Speed Dial

So I finally upgraded Opera, as even though version 12 was nice, Presto got definitely rusty. It shockingly lacks tons of customizations that used to be its strength, but I guess it’s still better than Chrome.

Something annoying is that they hid some settings. Namely, there are 2 kinds of hidden settings: the “advanced” settings and the “power user” settings. To unlock the advanced settings, go to Settings => Browser, and then scroll to the bottom and check the “Show advanced settings” box. This enables options such as restoring a real, standalone search bar and showing the full URLs in the address bar.

But for something as trivial as getting rid of Google, you need to access the “power user” settings. And they hid it really well, you actually need to type a freaking code to access it: when you are still in settings, type the following keys: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A. If you did it right, you’ll get a popup to confirm that you want to unlock those settings. That popup may sound a bit scary for instance they say “These settings are hidden for a reason. They can severely mess up the browser and we can take no responsibility for the stability or performance of the product after proceeding”. But this seems to be pretty BS: I only found TWO “power user” settings, one of which being the famous checkbox to hide the search box in speed dial (yes you can remove the Google serch box but you can not replace it with another search engine, thanks for the anti-feature Opera).

While you’re there, maybe don’t forget to check the “Always show power user settings” box, otherwise you’ll need to type the code every time you want to access them.