Top sites slows down / hangs safari

Greetings,

Is your post a question? Even if you deleted those files in that location, it's just going to fill up again, so are you wanting to deactivate Top Sites?

I have also had Top Sites hang or drag down the computer. You can't even switch apps. Anyway, is there a way to deactivate Top Sites?

Yes, you can deactivate Top Sites and Cover Flow like this:

Quit Safari if it's running and open System Preferences>Network>Advanced.
In the DNS Server tab, make sure IPv6 is turned off, and enter these two DNS servers to replace the ones you currently have:

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

click Apply Now and quit System Preferences.

Next, do these things in order:

1. Go to Home/Library/Cookies and delete the Cookies.plist file.
2. Go to Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
3. Go to Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Web Page Previews and delete the contents of that folder.
4. If you don't want to use the Top Sites feature, open Terminal and paste in this command:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSnapshotsUpdatePolicy -int 2

5. Go to Home/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
6. Go to Home/Library/Caches/Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
7. Go to Home/Library/Safari and delete these files (if you have them):

Downloads.plist
History.plist
Form Values
LastSession.plist
WebpageIcons.db

Then Repair Disk Permissions, restart Safari and see if the speed is improved.

You've got to be kidding 🙂

I found this in another thread that seemed to do the trick:

"I was seeing the same problem, but may have found the simple fix.

Go to the Safari menu, and choose "Reset Safari..." (Don't panic!)

From here, untick ALL the options boxes that may be selected, then tick the box "Remove all webpage preview images". Now click "Reset".

This will clear the cache of the images used to draw the previews, and will force Safari to re-gather all your top site websites. Next time you open Top Sites you'll see a load of blank images which will eventually fill up with new previews as Safari downloads new ones.

For whatever reason, this worked for me. You'd assume that Safari is grabbing new previews constantly, and that clearing the old previews would not make any difference due to this, but it worked for me. Perhaps the specs of the preview image have changed causing a glitch in the animation? Who knows... only Apple!

Message was edited by: Danny Bishop " -- end quoted text

What you've done accomplishes nothing, since you're unaware of what you're doing. You said you wanted to deactivate Top Sites, and the method I gave you is the only way to accomplish that.

Golden Shoes,

I updated to Safari 4 when it first came out and found that Top Sites slowed my G4 running OSX 10.4.11. For me Top Sites was just useless razzle dazzle. So I reverted back to Safari 3 using Pacifist and instructions from the Apple forums.

Last night I updated to iTunes 9 and now find that I must update to Safari 4 if I want the Apple iTunes Store to work.

If I update to Safari 4 I want to make sure that I can completely disable Top Sites. I came across your instructions and began to review them in a dry run but immediately found that I do not have "Advanced" in my System Preferences > Network. I just don't see it. I also do not see a DNS server tab. I do see Configure IPv6. If I click that i see that IPv6 is set to Automatic and that i can set it to OFF. Also, my DNS servers block is empty.

Why are my System Preferences > Network so different from yours if we're both on OSX 10.4.11?

I found these instructions, under "Disable/Enable Top Sites" on the Mac Tricks & Tips page which involve only writing a single command into the console. Maybe he's referring to the beta version of Safari 4 although the page is dated June 26, 2009. Do you think this would work?

http://tinyurl.com/ox9v5h

If I do update to Safari 4 so that iTunes will once again work I want to make sure i can completely disable Top Sites.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Philip

Why are my System Preferences > Network so different from yours if we're both on OSX 10.4.11?

Because the user who wanted to know how was using Snow Leopard, not Tiger, so those instructions were aimed at that user. You only need to go to System Preferences > Network > TCP/IP and enter the DNS numbers there.

I found these instructions, under "Disable/Enable Top Sites" on the Mac Tricks & Tips page which involve only writing a single command into the console.

No, that won't work; that command has been removed; it was only in the beta version.

If I do update to Safari 4 so that iTunes will once again work I want to make sure i can completely disable Top Sites.

Yes, you can completely disable Top Sites and Cover Flow using the command I gave previously in this thread. And you can enter it before you even install Safari 4.0.3.

Golden Shoes,

Thanks for the explanation. I will go ahead and do the update from Safari 3 to Safari 4.0.3, then enter the two DSN numbers in System Preferences > Network, click Apply Now, and then follow the rest of the instructions under "Next, do these things in order".

Does it matter that in "Configure IPv6" my IPv6 is set to Automatic? Does it need to be changed to Off?

Philip

Does it matter that in "Configure IPv6" my IPv6 is set to Automatic? Does it need to be changed to Off?

Yes, it does matter. If it's on, then it needs to be turned Off.

4. If you don't want to use the Top Sites feature, open Terminal and paste in this command:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSnapshotsUpdatePolicy -int 2

Hi Golden Shoes,

I did everything as you suggest and Safari still stubbornly collects Top Sites. I found this command on another site:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeTopSites -bool NO

What do you think?

I did everything as you suggest and Safari still stubbornly collects Top Sites

How do you know it's doing this? It could very well be the same sites that you had when you previously installed Safari 4.0.3. Did you clear those other folders of all their cache and webpage preview files? Did you also try unchecking the option to include Top Sites in Preferences > Bookmarks? I've done this before, along with many others, and it does work.

The other command you found will not work; it won't do anything at all.

Did you clear those other folders of all their cache and webpage preview files? Did you also try unchecking the option to include Top Sites in Preferences > Bookmarks?

Yes. As I said, I followed all your recommendations.

The other command you found will not work; it won't do anything at all.

Well... It works for me. Safari doesn't collect any Top Sites now.

That command cannot work, because it's not in Safari 4.0.3; it was removed.

How do you explain that the command that doesn't work works on my Safari? Curiouser and curiouser...

Without seeing exactly what you did and what you have now, it's impossible for me to explain your situation, but I do know for a fact that command was removed from Safari after the beta version.