Decrypting the system drive on an MBP16 M1 and an external Time Machine backup...

I wasn't doing ANYTHING with Safari... it wouldn't keep running long enough to do so. And there was no "development setup" to cause issues... I was simply referring to the addition of the "Develop" menu (which is a very simple change that should affect nothing).

As indicated previously, Apple apparently discovered the problem and corrected it with the recent update (12.3.1). Following that update, Safari has been working perfectly without ANY freezes.

The "Develop" menu...

Bob,

I do hope you didn't take my previous reply the wrong way. Your explanation did indeed sound quite logical and was greatly appreciated, as I try to recover from this issue which has been very costly to me in both time and monetary regards. I am truly at my whit's end trying to figure this out. I'm on my sailboat and should be in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, since the vast majority of my navigation is done on my MacBook, I've had to cancel my trip as I sit here in an anchorage still trying to remedy the issues with this very expensive addition to my digital arsenal. One can't afford to travel the extremely shallow and reef-filled waters of the Bahamas without a reliable method of navigation. This MacBook has just not provided those assurances!

Admittedly, the last upgrade to Monterey 12.3.1 has eliminated some of the issues I was having, but certainly not all of them. This, in and of itself, tells me that Apple are aware of the problems, even though their Support team makes it sound as though this was the first they've heard of it. That is incredibly frustrating and undermines the logic for my own support over many decades of development and influences of corporate decisions to support Apple products. As a Marketing Manager and IT Development Manager for the Yellow Pages division one of the largest telecommunication companies in the US, I once was primarily responsible for the commitment to Apple products. One might say it feels like a stab in the back to no longer obtain support for my own equipment. No doubt this means little to you... I just wanted you to understand why I find it so frustrating.

Now... I still don't understand why "None of these things are under Safari's control."

None of my other Apple computers ever had issues concerning crashes with Safari. (Unfortunately, this brand new, highly touted masterpiece of technology, is the only one I brought with me.)

While Javascript could indeed be the underlying issue, why would it happen repeatedly even on this site? I would think that Apple would at least try to make their own sites compatible with their flagship computer models.

Apple is clearly aware of the issues, or the most recent release of Monterey (2.3.1) would not have fixed many of issues I previously witnessed... a big jump ahead, but not quite there yet.

As a precaution, I have absolutely NO extensions installed on Safari. New windows and/or tabs open with an "Empty Page". No "Home Page" is assigned. "Favorites" shows an empty bookmarks folder.

Clearly, something must be "under Safari's control", as other browsers do not lock up. Unfortunately, there are aspects of the Safari browser that are critical to my development methodology and to my uses for marine navigation.

Again... please don't take offense by my questioning. I'm only trying to find an answer to a extremely frustrating and expensive set of issues. It is situations like this that have convinced me to keep my 2015 MBP on High Sierra for so many years. It simply works flawlessly and I have not seen anything on subsequent macOS releases that would convince me to "upgrade" (which is an extremely relative term). To be honest, that combination is far more productive than this flagship MBP16 M1. Yes, the internal memory is incredibly fast. But none of the development work I do can benefit noticeably from that enhanced speed. Over the years, I have replaced the battery in the 2015 MBP15 twice. And rather than buying the new one, I should have just replaced the internal keyboard in my workhorse 2015 MBP15 that started giving me issues. I have a new one in my inventory, but since absolutely everything else has to come out in order to replace the keyboard, I decided to invest in a new model instead. At this point, I'm convinced that this was the worst mistake I ever made!

Thanks in advance for any additional comments (or better yet... creative solutions).

Thank you, Bob. I am not a daily visitor to the site either. I once was, under a different ID, but somehow that ID no stopped working after the purchase of a new MacBook Pro some time ago.

Note that the original post for this was as follows...

Safari freezes on startup in Monterey 12.2 - Apple Community

Note also (as indicated in the above-noted thread) that ALL issues magically disappeared with the release of the 12.3.1 update to Monterey. Hopefully, this was due in part to the many dozens of Crash Reports that I diligently forwarded to Apple. Since nobody replies to these I'll never know. But presumably somebody (or some process) does analyze them.

Regarding your specific suggestions...

• No shared frameworks, libraries, and/or kernel components under Safari.
• I performed considerable "isolation testing".
• Safari was used as bare-boned as possible.
• I cleared all caches numerous times.
• No cached javascript whatsoever!
• All Safari extensions were removed long ago.
• Issues never occured on other web browsers (although I typically use nothing but Safari).

Your followup was excellent and greatly appreciated. I tried to designate the solution to you, but could not for some reason. I thank you kindly for your diligence, nonetheless.

Jack

That all sounds quite logical, Bob. But, if "none of these things are under Safari's control", why would it ALWAYS with Safari 15 running under macOS Monterey, but it NEVER happened (nor happens now) while using Safari 12/13 under macOS High Sierra. It doesn't matter how long I wait, the only way to get out of it is by switching to another application, wherein I can access and launch "Force Quit..." from the Apple menu. How is that logical?

Thank you for the well-worded explanation nonetheless.

PS: This is my 5th attempt to reply. The previous attempt froze during "Post". But this time it didn't completely freeze the app... I just received a les obnoxious spinning blue ring, instead of the "pinning beachball". AND I was able to open another browser window and/or refresh this page and repeat the reply. I suppose that's progress, but it doesn't do a whole lot to restore my productivity. ;-)

Correction... 6th attempt. I finally had to quit Safari, restart it and reply in an entirely instance of Safari.

Correction... 7th attempt. I finally had to quit Safari, and reply using Firefox!

Thank you, for your quick response, "leroydouglas".

~ > fdesetup status

FileVault is On.

I have never used encryption in the past, but since I am now cruising in the Bahamas on my sailboat 7 mo of the year and traveling in my RV the other 5 mo, I thought it might be wise idea to do so. Is the data actually encrypted, or only the access to it? If it's the former...

• Is the decryption performed instantly (on each of the two platforms)?
• Is there a risk of any issues due to the decryption?
• If "there is no noticeable slow down" once encrypted, would I be wise to just keep it on?

I might add that my upgrade to 12.3.1, I have been running Safari for a couple of hours without issue. (I almost hate to say that!)

Thank you again!!