safari and amazon - toxic - needs a fix
My Safari browser seems to have become entwined with Amazon.com in a way that is destroying functionality on the Amazon website. I've confirmed that the problem is not on Amazon's end, and Apple Support has been unable to resolve the problem. I believe the problem is that something has attached itself to Safari that is linking it in a toxic way to Amazon. Anyone ever hear of this? Check it out: After browsing Amazon briefly the links stop working and I'm given a generic "sorry we're having a problem but we're working on it" screen, after which I can no longer access Amazon unless I restart the computer.
And most strangely, even if I start with the secure (https) address, I end up with Safari telling me the website certificate is not valid. The certificate turns out to be www.amazon.com.br. This is Amazon in Portuguese, for the Brazilian market! Today I was completely unable to log in, although there was nothing wrong with my account. The Amazon rep got me running again, but suggested I switch to Firefox for Amazon, which he claims is more compatible.
So far I've emptied the cache and deleted Amazon cookies many times. I've also reset the system management controller. Any other suggestions? Should I bite the bullet and reset Safari?
Is there a way to look into the background of Safari and see if amazon.com.br is hiding there somewhere? Is there a scan I could run to see if there's malware that's causing the problem?
And lastly, should I simply download Firefox in order to browse Amazon only? I'd really like to solve the problem, not put a bandaid on it.
Thanks for any wisdom. I browse Amazon a lot so this is really a pain.
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)