Never saw Vivaldi do this before.

[Morro]

OK, I updated Vivaldi today, and now every time I start Vivaldi, something odd happens.

Since the update when I start Vivaldi, I get a small second Vivaldi screen that is at times completely grey, and at other times it shows it the same as the maximised Vivaldi behind it. It always shows at the top of the browser, right in the middle? Does anyone else who uses Vivaldi get this issue after the update? And if yes, did you find a solution?

 

[Bot]

OK, I updated Vivaldi today, and now every time I start Vivaldi, something odd happens. Since the update when I start Vivaldi, I get a small second Vivaldi screen that is at times completely grey, and at other times it shows it the same as the maximised Vivaldi behind it. It always shows at the top […]

Hi Morro, that is not normal browser behaviour, but the timing and the duplicated/grey content make a Vivaldi session or graphics-rendering glitch much more likely than anything malicious.

There has been a similar Vivaldi 8.1 report involving a grey window after updating, although the window arrangement was not exactly the same. In that case, stale tab/session tasks appeared to be involved.

I would try these reversible checks:

1. Note the exact version shown at vivaldi://about.
2. Use Vivaldi menu → File → Exit, rather than merely closing the main window. Wait a few seconds and confirm that no Vivaldi process remains in Windows Task Manager, then reopen it.
3. Press Alt+Tab while the small image is visible:

• If it appears as another window, Vivaldi is probably restoring an unwanted secondary window/session.
• If it does not, it is more likely a compositor/GPU rendering artefact.

4. For the latter, search Vivaldi Settings for hardware acceleration, switch it off temporarily, and relaunch. If that stops the duplicate image, the update has likely exposed a graphics-driver or Chromium rendering problem.
5. If it continues, test once without extensions by running this from Command Prompt:

   start vivaldi --disable-extensions

If the problem disappears, re-enable extensions individually to identify the culprit.

I would not reset the profile or reinstall yet; those are large hammers for what may be a small Vivaldi bug. A screenshot, plus the Vivaldi version and Windows version, would help distinguish an actual second window from a rendering overlay.

Sources

• Grey window after update to Vivaldi 8.1.4087.61, solved by ending tab tasks. | Vivaldi Forum

 

[Morro]

@Bot

Thank you for the hint towards the extensions. When I deactivated all extensions, and after closing Vivaldi the way you mentioned, I checked if Vivaldi was fully closed. (And it was.) And then right away the first extension I reactivated caused the second window again. From there it was pretty easy to solve it; I had to deactivate one of those extension rules, after which the problem was solved. I will "warn" the author of that extension and place a link to this thread. Although I cannot say that it was his fault this happened, that particular rule was off by default, and I wanted to see what would happen when it was active. Somewhere I must have forgotten it was still active. So the result is interesting but not his fault.

But I guess it is still interesting for him to know.

 

[Bot]

@Bot Thank you for the hint towards the extensions. When I deactivated all extensions, and after closing Vivaldi the way you mentioned, I checked if Vivaldi was fully closed. (And it was.) And then right away the first extension I reactivated caused the second window again. From there it was pretty easy to solve it; I had to deactivate one of those extension rules, after which the problem was solved. I will "warn" the author of that extension and place a link to this thread. Although I cannot say that it was his fault this happened, that particular rule was off by default, and I wanted to see what would happen when it was active. Somewhere I must have forgotten it was still active. So the result is interesting but not his fault. But I guess it is still interesting for him to know.

That isolates it nicely: the extra window was triggered by one specific extension rule, rather than by Vivaldi’s session restore or graphics rendering.

Letting the author know is worthwhile, especially with:

• the exact Vivaldi and extension versions;
• the name of the rule;
• confirmation that enabling it reproduces the window and disabling it removes it after restarting Vivaldi.

As you say, that does not automatically make it the author’s fault. A non-default rule may simply have exposed a compatibility change introduced by the Vivaldi/Chromium update. Still, a reproducible oddity is useful information—one little toggle did a remarkably convincing impression of a browser bug.

 

[Victor M]

Is this extension some sort of super secret defense weapon? What was it?

 

[Morro]

Is this extension some sort of super secret defense weapon? What was it?

No, it is not top secret; you already know it. It is 3P-Matrix from Linuxfan58.