All browsers (except for firefox) crash

Hey Snuffy!

Please try the following, and let me know if it works:

1. Open Finder and navigate to the user level library. (Finder > Go > Hold Down Option Key, Click Library, Let go of option)

2. Locate the following folders, and empty out the content. Do not delete the folders themselves, just the content within them: Caches, LaunchAgents

3. Restart your computer and test the browsers.

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If that does not resolve it, try this for specifically resolving Safari:

1. In the same user level library, located the file called "Safari".

2. Click and drag the entire folder to your desktop. Not just the contents, but the whole folder.

3. Restart computer and attempt to use safari again.

I would recommend moving the contents of LaunchAgents to the Desktop or somewhere else that can be accessed later, so the files can be reviewed and restored if necessary. Some programs not associated with the problem might install these, and removing them might break functionality for them.

Removing the LaunchAgents contents is completely safe to do. They are files that programs automatically create every time, and is one of the most basic troubleshooting steps an AppleCare advisor would try to resolve this issue. In fact, they'll often recommend removing all contents of the folder, along with some other folders, every couple of months just to keep your computer running a bit more smoothly.

These files can often become corrupt and cause the strangest of issues, and removing them for situations like this, is an important step to take. There is absolutely NO risk in removing them.

I never said it wasnt a good troubleshooting step; however, launch agents are very unlikely to "become corrupt" since they are more often than not files that are just read by the system launcher (launchd). Even though they are "plist" files, they are not like preferences files which are regularly read and written to, and which therefore are more prone to corruption.

You are incorrect that launch agents are files that programs recreate each time they are run. In some cases yes, but in most cases launch agents are NOT recreated. You might be mistaking them for preference files, but launch agents are largely placed in these locations by an installation script and are then not maintained by respective programs.

Additionally, if a launch agent is corrupted then at most the targeted task will not load properly and you will get regular errors in the system logs by the "launchd" process. Even rapid logging by this process has neglegable impact on system performance, and will not affect how other programs (i.e., Firefox, Opera, Safari) run.

The exception is perhaps a malicious launch agent installed by malware, which may try to launch additional malicious code, but this is a rare occurrence. Nevertheless, it is a possibility, and my recommendation here is to list the launch agent scripts by name in a forum posting here so people can help determine which may be suspicious.

It is also incorrect to presume removing all laungh agents blindly is "completely safe." If a third-party program you use requires background tasks to run that are governed by the launch agent, then removing it will break this functionality and leave you with more frustrations than you started with.

Because of this, blindly deleting launch agent scripts is simply not the best approach. If any troubleshooting regarding them is needed, then remove them from their parent folder and then log out/in or restart to load them properly, but keep them around so they can be manually restored.

If the problematic behavior continues after removing them and restarting, then they should all be restored. If not and the problem seems fixed by removing them, then you can restore them one at a time, rebooting and testing between each in order to see which might be contributing to the problem. If the system shows the problematic behavior after adding a specific launch agent back and rebooting, then you can open the agent file to see what tasks it is launching, and further investigate the issue.

Again, the preferred approach here is to list the names of the launch agents here in this discussion forum, and have folks provide input on which ones appear valid and which ones (if any) appear suspect, and then further investigate them.

Regarding the original poster's problem specifically, one first approach would be to check the Users > username > Library > Internet Plug-Ins folder and similarly troubleshoot the contents of it by removing them, seeing if problematic browsers start working, and then adding them back one-by-one if so, or adding them all back if the problem persists (since it would be clear the plugins were not the cause of the issue at hand).

Before doing this, however, its recommended to try creating a new user account in the Users & Groups system preferences and logging into it to test the browsers in there. This will help determine if the problem is with the user account configuration, or more global in nature.

I recommend the original poster try these approaches first, and report the results back here.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.

Step 1

Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar.

Enter the name of the crashed application or process in the Filter text field. Select the messages from the time of the last crash, if any. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).

When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.

Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Step 2

In the Console window, look under User Diagnostic Reports (not "Diagnostic and Usage Messages") for crash reports related to the crashed process. The report name starts with the name of the process, and ends with ".crash". Select the most recent report and post the entire contents — again, the text, not a screenshot. In the interest of privacy, I suggest that, before posting, you edit out the “Anonymous UUID,” a long string of letters, numbers, and dashes in the header of the report, if it’s present (it may not be.) Please don’t post other kinds of diagnostic report — they're very long and not helpful.