Browsers crashing

For some not-so-small time now, Opera 10 has been crashing whenever I attempt to download a file. I submitted bug reports, went to the Opera forums etc etc and have yet not received any replies. (The issue was briefly resolved post clean-reinstall of Opera, but it came back) In the meanwhile, I downloaded Firefox, and I just noticed that Firefox frequently crashes in the exact same circumstances. I download a file, select the download location, and when I press "save", the application crashes and prompts me to restart...

This is now leading me to believe this might be a problem on Apple's side. I mean, what are the odds of two browsers constantly crashing under the same exact circumstances?

Has anybody else experienced this?

Macbook 2.0GHz, 2gb ram, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 20, 2009 5:46 PM

Dec 9, 2009 8:43 AM in response to Lord Kamina

My problems started two days ago.

First, when I have opened gmail and have logged in, the beachball started to roll, and it is doing it ever since when I open gmail and some other sites. The browser freezes, and the only thing I can do is to force quit. I was only using Firefox, but after a few times it has frozen, I have also tried Safari which apparently has the same issues.

I have reinstalled the new version of flash player as well but nothing has changed. I have also tried the new Google Chrome, that is still a beta but has the same problems as the other browsers.

Opera seems to be working with some sites, that have crashed with firefox and safari, but gmail freezes in all of them.

I suspect that it has somehing to do with the java update that recently came out, because that was the last change I remember before the problem has appeared first. I'm not an expert at this, but as far as I understand java is to run some applications but I am not sure if gmail issue has anything to do with that.

It really needs a quick solution as I can not work and do my stuff without a fully working browser.

Your kind suggestions would be much appreciated!