User Agent issue - Always defaults to non-Safari user

Question

Level 1

79 points

User Agent issue - Always defaults to non-Safari user

If I try to access my www.me.com site, I am told I am using an unsupported browser. However, I am using Safari 5.0.3 on a mac running 10.6.5. When this happens, I have to go to Safari Prefs/Advanced and activate the Developer Menu, then choose either Safari 5 on a mac or the top choice, Default. Then it will recognize the browser correctly.

Yet, if I open a new tab or window, the user agent pops back to an old Mozilla string and I again cannot access pages correctly.

Is there a way to force Safari to report itself correctly, or perhaps there are files in the library somewhere that need to be deleted and rewritten by Safari to get out of this loop?

Thanks!

Hopa

2006 iMac, 20", Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 5, 2011 10:26 AM

Reply

Answer 1

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 5, 2011 12:30 PM in response to Hopa

Hopa --

In your old Mozilla browser's preferences, do you have that browser selected as the default?

Reply

Answer 2

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 15, 2011 2:56 PM in response to TildeBee

B~

Nope, in fact I've not actually used another browser other than Safari for nearly two years. That is why it is weird that Safari chooses that as it's default...

Reply

Answer 3

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 17, 2011 12:23 PM in response to Hopa

Ok, well bear with me , OK?
I'm just trying to cover the easy stuff first.

With Safari open,go up to the main Safari menu next to the Apple logo.
Click About Safari. What version is there?

Is your Safari app freestanding (not inside another folder) in the HD > Applications folder?

When you pull down your Development > User Agent menu, what options are there for Agent?
Are you saying that "Default" is on Mozilla? I have no Mozilla even listed in mine.

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 17, 2011 12:34 PM in response to Hopa

Hi,

on a mac running 10.6.5.

www.me.com site

Update your system software. v10.6.6 is available. Very important to keep your software up to date if you have a MobileMe account.

Click the Apple () menu (top left in your screen) Software Update ...

Then repair permissions.

Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select the FirstAid tab. Click: Repair Disk Permissions. When it's finished from the Menu Bar, Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac. If you see a long list of "messages" in the permissions window, it's ok. As long as you see, "Permissions Repair Complete" when it's finished... you're done.

If you see any warnings re: SUID messages, they can be safely ignored, information here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1448?viewlocale=en_US 

Restart your Mac then navigate to your .me account.

Carolyn 🙂

Reply

Answer 5

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 18, 2011 5:07 PM in response to TildeBee

~Bee,

No worries, thanks!

Safari Version: Version 5.0.3 (6533.19.4)

Location: In the appropriate Applications folder for the entire machine (HD/Applications)

User agent list (see screen shot linked below).

https://files.me.com/chezhopa/p7ry3i

Thanks again!

Hopa

Reply

Answer 6

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 18, 2011 5:09 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn,

Thank you, but a permissions repair and reboot has not helped. Nor did the recent update to 10.6.6. There must be a library file somewhere that I simply need to delete or something....

Hopa

Reply

Answer 7

Jan 18, 2011 5:12 PM in response to Hopa

Ok...

Login to another user account on your Mac. Launch Safari. See if you can access your .mac account on www.me.com

🙂

Reply

Answer 8

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 18, 2011 5:58 PM in response to Hopa

Hopa --

Can you delete that string that goes to Mozilla?
Then go up and choose default>Safari 5?

Reply

Answer 9

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 19, 2011 11:03 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn,

Nope. All users have the same issue. To access me.com without the "you are using an unsupported browser" error message, I must have develop menu enabled, and choose Safari 5.

Reply

Answer 10

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 19, 2011 11:04 PM in response to TildeBee

~Bee,

It is a menu item selection, for I am not sure how to delete the string. Thoughts?

Reply

Answer 11

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 19, 2011 11:30 PM in response to Hopa

Hopa --

Do you have Mozilla 4.0 still on your Mac somewhere?

Reply

Answer 12

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 19, 2011 11:39 PM in response to Hopa

Also, are you running windowz on your Mac?
Did you install Opera?

Read this chart:
http://whatsmyuseragent.com/CommonUserAgents.asp

EDIT: Forget Opera
It looks like it came from Internet Explorer or Windows XP

Message was edited by: ~Bee

Reply

Answer 13

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 20, 2011 11:07 AM in response to TildeBee

~Bee,

No, never had Windowz running on this machine. All older or alternate browsers (aside from FIrefox which me wife uses on her user account) were removed a while ago.

Hopa

Reply

Answer 14

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jan 22, 2011 7:47 PM in response to Hopa

Ok, Hopa --
Let's try this:
1). Go to User Agent > Other.
When the Mozilla IE stuff comes up, see if you can erase it.
Click the box in front of Safari 5.0.3
Restart SAfari and see if it stuck.

2). If not, go in and erase the IE stuff again and replace it with:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10 66; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.19.4 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.3 Safari/533.19.4

Only try that if that if #1 doesn't stick.
(I'm really hoping you can do this.)

Message was edited by: ~Bee

Reply

Answer 15

Hopa Author

Level 1

79 points

Jan 31, 2011 5:22 AM in response to TildeBee

B~

Well, the two steps above did not help (#1 did not let me delete and leave empty, #2 disappeared upon restart of safari).

But...

I decided to simply delete the plist file from user/library/preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist and restart. Voila, no more odd user agent string. Me.com. Facebook, and the other odd sites that used to come up telling me I was using an unsupported browser now are fine, and see Safari 5 perfectly.

Thanks for your help!

Reply