Safari 9.0.3 Performance Issues

Same issues when trying to use a new tab...completely unusable!

This fixed the new tab issues for me

Safari > Preferences > Search then toggle Safari Suggestions to Off.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/638442/Mac-OS-X-Safari-Su ggestions-Glitch-Apple-Crash-Tabs-URL-New-Search

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice. It works.

I don't understand how i visited the "Safari prank page"

So weird.

Thank you, turning off the safari suggestions in the earlier post fixed my issue. It started right after the El Capitan update 10.11.3

Hi guys, this might seem irritatingly simple minded, but I finally rebooted my router as a last ditch effort to stop safari from hanging...did everything else I could find as a fix in this forum, and voilå! Sites loading fast, no trouble with search bar...worth a try, worked for me!

Fellow Safari Sufferers,

I had the same problem, and here is what worked for me. First of all, my Safari (9.0.3) did not have a Search tab in the preferences, so I was not able to try the turning off Safari suggestions idea given here. Nor do I have Lil Snitch or ESET. What I do have is Time Machine, backups, and a copy of CleanMyMac 3.
If you have those, then here's how I solved the Safari 9.0.3 removal and installation of Safari 7.1.8:

1. Go to the Apps Store and find out the exact date you installed Safari 9.0.3.

2. Once you have the date, go into your Time Machine backups and find the version of Safari that predates this by one day, and copy this to your desktop. Check the get info to make sure it is not Safari 9.0.3. In my case, it was Safari 7.1.8.

3. Open up CleanMyMac 3 or other uninstaller program, like AppCleaner. For me, CleanMyMac 3 is a great program for uninstalling programs. I don't use it for anything else, so I don't run into the problems I have read about with it in these Apple forums.

4. Just uninstall the Safari.app only - nothing else! No associated files or preferences. And make sure it is the right version by the file size. Safari 9.0.3 will be about 45 MB, while the older version will be around 37 MB. CleanMyMac 3 will see ALL versions of Safari on your Mac. Deselect everything but the offending 9.0.3 version. If you are not completely sure at this stage, hide CleanMyMac 3 and go into your Applications folder, get info on it, and then go back into CleanMyMac 3 and make sure that the one you are deleting matches version 9.0.3. Select uninstall. CleanMyMac 3 may ask permission for a little helper file to be downloaded, because Safari is used by the system, and you can't always count on these files being uninstalled routinely with just any uninstall program. In my case, CleanMyMac 3 did the job. I haven't tried it with AppCleaner, so I can't vouch for that one working, but you might try it if you don't happen to have CleanMayMac 3. Or you can see if the free demo version of CleanMyMac 3 will do the uninstall for you without having to buy the app first.

5. Once uninstalled, quit out of CleanMyMac 3. Copy your old version of Safari you retrieved from your Time Machine backup into your Applications folder, where the old one used to be - the one that you just removed.

6. Double click on it to open it. I am on my older version of Safari 7.1.8 as I write this, so I know these steps work, cause I just now did them.

Enjoy your non-hanging, blazingly fast version of Safari 7.1.8, and thank the Gods you had the foresight to use Time Machine!

That's a very thorough post about reverting to an earlier version of Safari. Good job, if that's what one wants to do. However, Apple usually updates stuff for security reasons. Therefore, aren't you now more susceptible to bad stuff from the world wide interweb; as Apple puts it, "maliciously crafted web sites"?

Millions of Macsters aren't having problems with 9.0.3. I know that doesn't help you. "Normally" one would want to Reset Safari first to see if that helps. Then maybe delete the .plist, etc etc etc. Sorry if I don't seem helpful.

David,

You make a good point. At the time I posted my solution, there weren't any other options on the table, i.e., your suggestions. By posting them, you offer some good alternatives to the discussion that weren't here before.

From the looks of these posts, I just assumed that millions of Mac users were having issues with Safari 9.0.3., and would gladly trade the security issue you mention – that they still faced with 7.1.8 but didn't know it – for the ability to surf a website in 3 minutes vs. 3 hours. I am a web designer, and didn't even bother looking for a solution to this issue until I was trying to get some work done for a client yesterday, and my workflow was slowed to a crawl. Since I charge my clients by the hour, I decided to either use another browser, or try and get this fixed, as soon as my deadline had been met for the day.

Now I have the option to stay with 7.1.8 and wait for another release of Safari, or I can reinstall 9.0.3 and try your suggestions. So, offering more choices for me and others who read this to consider is helpful, and contributes to the conversation on this issue. I am glad that to hear that you are not suffering with Safari slowdowns and meltdowns, as others seem to be.

By the way, I am on an older Mac, and have decided not to keep upgrading. I have already had to downgrade iTunes, which was a more rigorous process than the method I described above, and now Safari. I also am not willing to go above Mavericks in my system upgrades. I have read too many horror stories about people who have upgraded, and then found out that their copies of Photoshop or Dreamweaver no longer work anymore on their new system. I can't afford to upgrade my Mac at this time, and I can't afford to have my programs stop working on me all of a sudden, since this is a working Mac (i.e., my livelihood).

This keeps what I have working well (or at least working) for the time being. I imagine there are others in the same boat as me. Maybe not millions, but probably quite a few who cannot or will not, for whatever reason, keep upgrading to the next version of whatever Apple puts out without looking before they leap. Downgrading one or two programs is quite possibly much easier than having to downgrade an entire system from Yosemite or El Capitan back down to Mavericks. So, downgrading or simply not keeping up, unfortunately, has become a viable alternative for many of us older Mac users who can't or won't upgrade their hardware so they can keep up with Apple's software releases. I had to draw a line somewhere, and beyond that I cannot or will not go.

I've been having this problem as well ever since upgrading to El Capitan. I've been reading everything I can to find a solution and I've had to give up. I've switched to Firefox and it works just fine with no problems. I would have preferred to stay with Safari since that's where everything is bookmarked (I'll have to export all . bah), but putting up with Safari with no site of an Apple fix is just no longer an option.