OS X 10.7 Lion - Slow to boot, run, launch Safari etc. etc.

I forgot to mention the frequent Safari errors stating that I am not connected to the internet - under Snow Leopard I never had one dropped connection in ten months.

And that Safari pages randomly reload so that I lose any text I have entered.

I mentioned that I lost text due to pages reloading randomly. Well, when I was typing the post originally, it mentioned that Spotlight had already completed its indexing and that I had forced it to re-index by removing and replacing my boot volume from the Privacy list.

I don't have any real backup options as I cannot connect to my Time Machine volume - so I am very reluctant to attempt to re-install Lion at the moment.

Spotlight suddenly started indexing again. It had the striped progress bar for quite a long time then stated that the 'Estimated indexing time' was 3 days. I waited for half an hour and it still said three days and there was not even a visible pixel of hope in the progress bar.

Out of sheer frustration, I bit the bullet and re-installed Lion. It went through the same kind of process as described earlier, except for the Mail fiasco, i.e. the Spotlight indexing etc. Safari still would not launch without a very long delay - I don't know how long because I had an unexpected visitor and had to leave it.

When I came back, everything seemed to have settled down so I decided to try rebooting to see if there was any improvement. If there is, it is hardly measurable and Spotlight is again indexing - this time for about 20 minutes with the striped progress bar and is now reporting 'About 4 hours remaining'.

I've read elsewhere that some Lion users are having Spotlight indexing every restart or every other restart. Frankly, if this is the case it has to be a problem with Lion which needs addressing tout de suite.

And having completed one indexing session, Spotlight has started again, this time it says, 'About 11 hours remaining'.

! ? ! ? ! ? !

Is this going to carry on indefinitely???????

I can just about deal with the slow boot up if I leave the room for 15 minutes, just coming back to enter my password.

But I'm getting MIGHTY hacked off (polite version) with Safari suddenly refressing pages when I have been entering text causing me to lose everything. This is seriously DUFF! A pro forma alert window (which I never saw before Lion) comes up which somebody must have composed indicating that this is a behaviour expected under certain circumstances - those circumstances being, I suspect, some new feature built into Safari, chief suspect; Safari's new restore feature.

To be honest, Apple, the whole concept of restoring applications and pages is not something I have ever wished for and find EXTREMELY irritating. I close a window when I want it closed. I quit an application when I want it quit. If you insist on having this little parlour trick embedded in the OS, please supply one [EXPLETIVE] BIG button to switch the [EXPLETIVE] feature OFF. I don't expect to have to go hunting through preferences to find it only to find that there are little buttons hidden all over the place and that every time I reboot, I have to remember to deselect the 'fancy little useless trick we are going to make you laboriously watch yet again' button. LET US CHOOSE THE DEFAULT!

As my avatar may hint, I have been a Mac user for a long time, 26 years, I would never consider using any other computers. The times in my life when I have been forced to use Windows machines have scarred me. But the last couple of years I have become more and more disillusioned with the Apple dogma, both in terms of Macs and iPhones. Hopefully, things will improve but I can foresee a time when I have to consider life without.