Possible Safari 4.0.3 issue

I'm also having this problem. It just started today despite the fact that I upgraded to Safari 4.0.3 several days ago. I'm running on Mac OS X 10.4.11 and it's just frustrating to have my downloads menu popping up every few minutes and then having to go through and delete. Any ideas on how to fix this?

I'm not comfortable with the idea that "there are no OS X viruses."

whether there are or not, or whether they are known or not, this behavior, to me, means only one thing:

that some one or something other than me is giving directions to Safari, and that Safari is obeying them.


You can call it whatever you like. a bug. a trojan. a virus. an anomaly.

bottom line: it ain't OK behavior.

I will try the suggestions given. It's starting to feel like I'm spending as much time doing diagnostic checks and tests as I am actually using this machine to realize my agenda.


r

You'll need to modify your Hosts file to block odb.outbrain.com, since that is the domain those downloads originate from. You can do that easily by downloading Hostal and use it to add odb.outbrain.com to the list of blocked domains in your Hosts file. You will have to quit Safari and restart your Mac or use the Special > Restart Lookup Daemon menu item in that program before you restart Safari to test it.

I'm not comfortable with the idea that "there are no OS X viruses."

Do you mean that fact isn't comforting? If so, then you might as well be using Windoze, which has thousands of viruses and numerous, wide-open security holes. Would that be more comforting?

that some one or something other than me is giving directions to Safari, and that Safari is obeying them.

Which is what happens when web developers become enamored of flawed technologies such as JavaScript and use them for everything on their site. As I've said before, if you turn off JavaScript, you shouldn't have any problem with those mysterious downloads, but you will then have problems viewing content on many, many web sites. Pick your poison.

no. I was pretty clear about what I am uncomfortable with, which is that someone or something other than me is giving instructions to Safari, and that Safari is obeying them, and that this is unacceptable behavior.

when did this become the "if you don't like something about apple's applications, then either lump it or use Windows" thread?

This thread is plump with others having the same experience as me and who are looking for solutions, not sermons.


r

Had this same issue. Does not appear to be email related for me. While visiting some websites in the past few days, my computer began downloading folders called "Desktop -1," "Desktop -2," which were scripted to go into my home folder (downloads are normally set to go to my desktop). They then automatically belched their contents into the users file of my hard drive, producing documents called "Desktop -1-1," "Desktop -2-1," etc. They did not appear to be doing anything further, but this is not something that has happened to me before , and it is disturbingly like some sort of virus. It did this even though my pop-up blocker was on in Safari. While I was browsing several sites at the time, I did finally narrow it down to some of the articles from the slate.com site (I think it happened while reading Dear Prudence) and also something in this link http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2009-08-13-sleep-gene_N.htm.

I am currently running Safari version 4.0.3 on a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Imac. This does not happen with Firefox.

I should have said, this does not happen with Firefox +with Javascript enabled+.

Getting the same thing with articles at the Chicago Tribune web site.

Certainly seems like an issue with the new Safari, and would be far more likely than virus/trojan IMO.

Any ideas yet? Thank you!

I'm beginning to get the picture that this is a javascript-related issue.

I went back to RSS reader Vienna, which does a vastly superior job of handling feeds than do either FFox or Safari...and I saw the Vienna downloads window pop up and show the same malarkey! 0KB downloads named "downs," "downs-1," "downs-2" etc.

this and others' remarks make it seem that javascript is suspect.

thoughts?

r

Also seeing it happen when on Chicago Tribune site in addition to Slate.

Agree its Safari 4.0.3

Ray,

What is most puzzling to me, is that with Firefox in Tiger, there is no indication of anything trying to download or that Firefox "brags" about blocking. In Leopard, there is no indication of any attempted download or other related activity with either browser.

Ernie

Ray, I obviously can't confirm whether there is a bug or not, and I can no longer boot into Tiger (having now abandoned it), but I have not seen this occur using Safari 4.0.3 and Leopard 10.5.8 on my G5 PPC Mac, nor in Firefox.

This problem seems to be affecting some Leopard users as well, but in a different way. See this thread Here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2116110&tstart=0

What's happening is that some web pages appear to just be hanging at various stages of completion. Being the suspicious type, I tried the solution proposed for this problem and turned off Javascript. Shazam! Problem gone and speed returns.

So, it's starting to look to me as if the Safari update has a major Javascript flaw. If you can live without Javascript (or put up with Firefox) for a while, that should solve your problem.

I have not experienced anything like that with Leopard and 4.0.3.

Ernie

Question:
Is this "Safari 4.0.3 + OSX 10.4.11" problem a security issue with anything on our desktops, or with anything recently printed, or anything viewed on a secure https site? Could this re-direct bookmarked websites to bogus sites?