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Level 1

0 points

Safari ridiculously SLOW in Snow Leopard

I was very happy with Safari 4 performance in my 2008 iMac. But since I upgraded to Snow Leopard (10.6.1) the browser is simply too slow to be usable. Really, really slow. You can see every single element of a website loading (like the background drawing from top to botton, things like that), while before it just appeared instantly.

I have an old macbook (2.0ghz, Core Duo - not core 2 duo, 512MB RAM) running Leopard and I did some side by side tests. My iMac has a 2.66 Core 2 Duo Processor with 4GB ⚠ of ram. Both machines side by side, on the same Wifi network.

Even tough I pressed enter simultaneously in both machines, the iMac is now taking 3 to 5 SECONDS more to load a page than the old macbook ! I did tests in MANY websites, like digg.com, new york times, college humor, and so on.

What gives ? Why is Safari so slow in snow leopard ?

Apple Macbook 13inch 2.0ghz Core Duo 512 60GB White SuperDrive, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Sep 19, 2009 7:07 PM

51 replies

Oct 8, 2009 8:32 AM in response to FelipeRaul

The fact that Firefox runs MUCH faster than Safari in the same Snow Leopard environment indicates that the problem is with Safari. Why can't Apple get its own apps to work well with its OS? This reminds me of the dark days of using a WinXP machine.

Oct 8, 2009 8:45 AM in response to t.lee

Thanks for the info, I'm going to try some of those suggestions.

I'm still waiting to see if Apple comes out with any fixes in the next Safari and/or OS update, though. The point is, we shouldn't have to be tinkering around with things like this to get things working right.

Oct 8, 2009 12:55 PM in response to Donnie Ashworth

I went to preferences/security in safari and Unchecked Fraudulent websites as when it was checked there was a warning of some sort from google that the fraud thing was not working. With it unchecked all seems fine now? Its flawless!! But I'm not using snow leopard using 10.5.8. Though I feel this could be the problem since google is the search engine??

Oct 10, 2009 1:31 AM in response to Barry Hemphill

You are wrong. Try to visit other sites besides apple.com every now and then.

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2009 12:41 PM in response to chambone01

I just got fed up and re-installed Safari 3 and the previous version of iTunes. Everything is running much much faster without any gliches. Apple needs to do a better job of de-bugging before releasing stuff. I have SL but I am NOT going to install it until I see all the bugs fixed. I am a normal user, not a geek geek who can fix system problems......I need to be able to upgrade and have it improve not wipe out my system

Oct 10, 2009 1:28 PM in response to KCinCan

KCinCan,

I'm wondering: 1. If I can get hold of a copy of Safari 3 - where did you get yours? and 2. If it will work with SL. I wouldn't mind going back if it would work.

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 10, 2009 1:35 PM in response to Donnie Ashworth

Donnie Ashworth-

Sorry, I just used my TimeMachine backup copy. I don't know where to get the old version if you didn't save a copy. One thing I am quite happy about is the TimeMachine program in combo with a WD external drive.....good safety stop if things go wrong. Maybe someone else has any ideas about how to get the old version??????????

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Oct 12, 2009 5:33 PM in response to LXTran

Since both are running slowly it makes me think a third party plugin is interfering with both.

Kurt

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2009 7:20 PM in response to Kurt Weber

Thanks Kurt, yeah I think that may be the case too but I get in trouble deleting things. Safari 4 ran better when I disabled plugins but then I couldn't run videos on facebook or Youtube. Things are just running a heck of a lot better with the old versions. I don't see any advantage of upgrading at this point given what I do. If I get ambitious, I will do the test user elimination thing suggested in this forum. Thanks for the feedback.

Karel

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 12, 2009 7:23 PM in response to KCinCan

Oh, do you have any suggestions on how to identify all your third party plugins? I mean, Apple has a lot of stuff that comes with and I have added various things but don't really have a good feel for what is vital to the system and what is extraneous and may be causing the problems. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Kurt Weber

Level 6

13,969 points

Oct 13, 2009 8:50 AM in response to KCinCan

Go to the help menu and select "installed plugins." This will let you know what you have installed.

I removed the Flip4mac plugin, updated flash to the newest version and removed an old flash plugin. Safari improved dramatically. I also used software update to update Java.

If you go to the plugins folder you can see some incompatible plugins. They have no preview and are listed as Unix Executable files. I manually removed them. Shockwave Director was one such file for me.

Macintosh hardrive/Library/Internet plugins

Kurt

Oct 13, 2009 9:06 AM in response to Kurt Weber

Kurt,

Excuse for jumping in here. Thanks for the info on the plug-ins. I'm trying to follow your advice, but not sure what if anything I need to delete/replace. If you have time, could you look at this screenshot and tell me if you see anything that looks suspect?

http://gallery.me.com/dash051#100449/Screen-20shot-202009-10-13-20at-20October-2 013--20&bgcolor=black

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 13, 2009 11:56 AM in response to Kurt Weber

Thanks Kurt. I have several questions if you have the time....
1. Do I need the plugins for Cocoa?
2. I have a bunch of Quick Time plugins....do I need all of them?
3. I cannot find the plugins in the folder "internet plugins" in my Library...in either my admin user or the user I use on a daily basis. How do I delete the plugins if I can't find them?

I did uninstall Flip4Mac with its uninstall program. I have Perion which works better.

Thanks for the help. The more I do the more I learn! Right now I feel like a dunce.

Karel

pantopic

Level 1

2 points

Oct 17, 2009 3:16 AM in response to FelipeRaul

I had this problem and followed the solutions presented in this thread, I also updated Flash and FlipForMac, but no dice.

Then... I looked in /Library/Internet Plugins. I found a Shockwave plugin that was PPC! I threw that in the garbage, and now Safari is as fast as it was under beta in 10.5; faster, really.

KCinCan

Level 1

9 points

Oct 17, 2009 11:46 AM in response to Kurt Weber

Hi Kurt, I really could use some help......I followed your advice re the Safari Help Plugins and I can see them........I also looked in the user Library file "internet plugins" and "itunes plugins" and the folders are empty. I have no clue how to assess what plugins I really have and more importantly, how to delete them. Something seems to be off if I have absolutely no plugins in the library folder but some that show up in Safari. I checked the admin files as well and nothing shows up. Do you have any sage advice? Thanks for the help.

Safari ridiculously SLOW in Snow Leopard