Safari quit working on my 10.9.5 iMac. Help! Thanks!

The only way to reinstall Safari is to reinstall OS X. Because Mavericks is no longer available you would have to upgrade the machine to Yosemite. If you have backups dating back prior to when this problem occurred, then reinstall the backup.

You can perform a normal reinstallation without erasing files, but it won't reinstall Mavericks although you can try by using the download listed in your Purchases page in the App Store. But I'm pretty sure you will be forced to install Yosemite.

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Alternatively, see:

Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Choose the version you have installed now:

OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X

OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X

OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

There are many possible causes for problems with web browsing. Below are some simple steps that may help either to solve the problem or isolate the cause.

Back up all data before making any changes.

1. Restart your router and also your broadband device, if they're separate.

2. If you connect to the the router with Wi-Fi, turn off Wi-Fi and then back on.

3. If you connect with Wi-Fi and you can also connect with Ethernet, do that and turn off Wi-Fi.

4. If your browser is Safari, then from the Safari menu bar, select

Safari ▹ Preferences... ▹ Privacy ▹ Remove All Website Data

and confirm. If the Downloads button (with the icon of a downward-pointing arrow) is showing in the toolbar, click it and then click Clear in the box that appears. The download history will be removed.

5. Select the Extensions tab in the Preferences window. Turn all extensions OFF and test. If there's an improvement, turn extensions back ON and then disable them one or a few at a time until you find the culprit.

6. If you're running OS X 10.10 or later, select the Search tab. Uncheck the box marked

Enable Quick Website Search

if it's checked.

7. If you're running OS X 10.9 or later, select the Advanced tab and uncheck the box marked

Stop plug-ins to save power

Quit and relaunch the browser.

8. Enable guest logins* and log in as Guest. Don't use the Safari-only “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac.”

While logged in as Guest, you won’t have access to any of your documents or settings. Applications will behave as if you were running them for the first time. Don’t be alarmed by this behavior; it’s normal. If you need any passwords or other personal data in order to complete the test, memorize, print, or write them down before you begin.

Test while logged in as Guest.

After testing, log out of the guest account and, in your own account, disable it if you wish. Any files you created in the guest account will be deleted automatically when you log out of it.

*Note: If you’ve activated “Find My Mac” or FileVault, then you can’t enable the Guest account. The “Guest User” login created by “Find My Mac” is not the same. Create a new account in which to test, and delete it, including its home folder, after testing.

9. Are any other web browsers installed, and are they the same? What about other Internet applications, such as iTunes and the App Store?

10. If other browsers and Internet applications are also affected, follow these instructions and test.

11. If Parental Controls is active for any user, please turn it off and test.

12. Open the iCloud preference pane and uncheck the boxes marked Safari and Photos, if they're checked.

13. Are there any other devices on the same network that can browse the Web, and if so, are they affected?

14. If you can, test Safari on another network.

15. Start up in Recovery mode. In the OS X Utilities screen, select Get Help Online. A clean copy of Safari will launch. No plugins, such as Flash, will be available. While in Recovery, you'll have no access to your saved bookmarks or passwords, so make a note of those before you begin, if they're needed for the test.