Why is Safari 5.1.9 a Step Back?

I seem to have another problem with Safari 5.1.9 (I'm running Snow Leopard 10.6.8). Since updating from 5.1.8, I find that if I click a link outside Safari (eg a link in a Mail message), instead of opening a new window to display the page for this URL, Safari grabs an existing window that's open in Safari, generally one that's minimized, and replaces the first tab on that window with the new page. Whatever was there before is gone, and there's no way to go back to it (the 'back' button is greyed out, as it should be with a new tab).

I tend to keep many windows open in Safari while I'm researching, knowing I will need to go back to them and as a reminder of where my research has led me. Each time this has happened, I have no idea what page has been overwritten, only that I see a window being "un-minimised" and one of the tabs is displaying the new URL.

This is extremely unfriendly. Having finally gven in and updated Safai from 5.0.5 a while back (when 5.1 first came out it was a disaster, and I reverted to 5.0.5, but when I recently tested one of the later 5.1 versions, it seemed most of the problems were fixed), I've now got to think about reverting again.

Unless anyone knows of a fix to this problem?

ps. I agree about the other issues I've read about, too. Though autofill has long been a problem, going back even before 5.0.5, by trying to be too clever and autofilling quite the wrong fields with information — I find the new way way of doing it, though tedious, seems to work a little better.

Yes, I am still having the automatic tab reloading and I am ******* sick of it.

I have lost count of how much work I have lost because of it.

I have 8 GB of perfect new RAM and tonnes of SSD HD space, I have tried reinstalling the OS etc and every fix on the internet (no (SP) mode does not work, nor does switching Java off etc, it's not an extension nor corrupted anything ... it's an uncontrollable fault with Safari).

Why does it keep happening !?!

And I am so sick of Apple not acknowledging this and responding to it.

What triggers it ... it is a built memory or cache limitation? It is a plain and simple crash?

How do I debug it to find out?

It strikes me that 20 years after the internet went public Apple ... despite all their billions and open source developers working for free ... still cannot make a browser that does not crash and so they decided to make a browser that *appears* not to crash ... except that it *does* ... only now the facade remains erect but everything else behind it crashes causing all tabs to reload, and videos and music start to play.

And there is no way to stop it doing so.

The most key app of our day and it is a POS.

Saxman --

2. Why can't we select Safari to open on a page of our choosing, such as our Homepage, as it had all the years previously? This makes zero sense, either a blank page or all the previously one, why not one of our choosing???

So you can't go to your Homepage, go to Safari Preferences > General > Homepage, and choose "Open with current page?"

Set the "Safari opens with:" preference to "new window" (if that's how you want Safai to start up when it's launched), then set the "New windows open with:" preference below that to "Home page".

UYE???

Bee and Mike are right. It can be done. I prefer 'Top Sites' myself.

But none of that helps the business of tab's autofreshing.

Is it something causing a crash of one of Safari's processes, or it is Safari reaching some hard coded memory/cache limit which we cannot easily change?

I've tried 32 bit and 64 bit, I set cache to the maximum 500 MB. I've disabled Java, reset etc ... it still happens.

I've not had this problem of tabs auto-refreshing, except when I have deliberately force-quit the "Safari Web Content" process (because sometimes it consumes 100% CPU with no sign of ever stopping, which is another PITA). I assume if this process crashes, Safari reloads all its tabs by starting it up again. In fact, I've noticed it reloads them lazily - that is, it seems to reload only the front-most tab in each window, and loads other pages when their tabs are selected.

My gripe is that only since I upgraded to 5.1.9 has Safari started overwriting existing tabs at random to open links clicked in other applications (like mail messages in Mail, pdfs in Preview, tweets in Twitter, and so on).

I have no idea what work I've lost as a result.

Safari 5.0.5, General Preferences (4.0.5 is the same)

Within New windows open with... (selecting 'Same Page' makes the chosen 'Home Page' open when starting Safari)

Where was the option for this...?

>> I only want the first window, when opening Safari, to be the homepage, just as it used to be done for many years, till now...

or any option for what Safari opens with ?

>>As far as what Safari opens with, unlike what it has for many years, is either: Safari opens with: either "A new window", or "All windows from last session"..... period.

>>Andy, I have Safari 5.1.9, not 5.0.5...

I know that - you said

>> I only want the first window, when opening Safari, to be the homepage, just as it used to be done for many years, till now...

So, given the options in 5.0.5, how did you have it set so that only the first window opened with a particular page, and not the others ? I don't see what option used to allow that. I can see that 5.1 doesn't do what you want, but it sounds as if older versions did, and yet I'm failing to see where.

Hi,

I tried to post yesterday but got deleted as my link went to my fixed1t mac software page. So I've created a new blog that has no saleable items or marketing on it, I'll post none commercial Mac fixes here if it works, I do hope it works. Happy

I've spent months fighting with Safari on my Mac and eventually gave up and went to Google Chrome. However I heard on the radio today that Google Chrome has no protection mechanism for your stored passwords OOPS so decided to try and fix Safari on my 10.6 Snow Leopard machine.

Here's a simple video with step by step instructions of how I did it on my new fixed1t Mac Support blog:

http://fixed1t-mac-support.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/mac-safari-not-working-in-1068 -how-to.html

I hope you like the backtracking track too, a little piece I wrote called Flight of Fancy track. Cool

Fixed --

Your video advises people to go into their SYSTEM folder, and delete a file. As a rule, we don't recommend anyone going into the SYSTEM file and making changes. It's just too easy to make a crucial mistake, IMHO.