It's high time that the myth of Safari 5 causing a rift in the space-time continuum and not working for anybody is laid to rest.
It works for the vast majority and
there is no need whatever to revert to a previous version.
When it does not work, at least not perfectly, there are a few possible causes, all of which have remedies.
1. Third-party plug-ins, add-ons, extension managers, whatever, have yet to be updated by their developers to comply with Safari 5 and therefore crash Safari.
Solution: Disable or delete them. You fill find them in one or more of these folders:
Home/Library/Input Managers
Hard Disk/library/Input Managers
Hard Disk/Library/Application Support
(The one that caused most problems was the CT toolbar/ct plugin. Instructions for removing that has been posted many times, but please post back for a repeat.)
Close Safari and delete them, then restart Safari and it should be working normally. Alternatively drag them to the desktop and restart Safari. then add them back one at a time, restarting Safari every time, until you find the one (or more) causing the crash.
Check with the developers of the plug-ins in question for updates that are Safari 5 compliant.
2. Safari hangs/does not finish loading web pages, or gives "Failed to find Server" messages etc.
(You should clear you cache and history files regularly.)
Probably a conflict between the DNS numbers supplied by your ISP and the way Safari 5 now does things.
Solution: Adding Open DNS codes to your Network Preferences, should give good results in terms of speed-up as well as added security. Open System Preferences/Network. Double click on your connection type, or select it in the drop-down menu, and in the box marked 'DNS Servers' add the following two numbers:
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
(You can also enter them if you click on Advanced and then DNS)
3. Flash videos no longer play.
(Particularly common with Snow Leopard)
Solution: You should first uninstall any previous version of Flash Player, using the uninstaller from here (make sure you use the correct one!):
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157
Now download and install the latest version of Adobe FlashPlayer from here:
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash
and follow the instructions closely, such as closing ALL applications first before installing. You
must also carry out a permission repair after installing anything from Adobe.
4. Still won't work
Solution: download and re-install the latest combo update for your system. Then download and re-install Safari 5 again. Then repair permissions.
If required, repeat 1 - 3.
