Safari freezes when visiting certain websites.

I'm getting similar behavior from Firefox so I don't think it's just Safari (I almost never use Safari). I was finally able to force quit Firefox and everything seemed normal again. I then tried to start Safari and it did the same thing (beachball and entire OS not responding except for the mouse pointer for quite a bit and I was able to force quit Safari and everything started responding again). I thought this was Flash's fault because it started doing it after a Flash update and rebooting would NOT help Firefox (still beachball on start). Removing flash got Firefox working again and all was fine for another week or so and it did it while playing Baldur's Gate 2 (looking up a question). This time a reboot got Firefox working again, but the question remains WHAT is causing the problem. It can't just be a certain web site as Safari acted up as soon as it started and was only loading Google's home page. Frankly, I'm concerned this might be some form of malware. I've NEVER seen a browser freeze the entire OS until a few months ago. The browser might lock up, but not freeze OS functions with it. I've also noticed no error report offer came up after a force quit like it normally does this time.

Do you have Trusteer Rapport installed?

Try running this program in your normal account , then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read. On the screen with Options, please open Options and check the bottom 2 boxes before running. Click “Share Report” button in the toolbar, select “Copy Report” and then paste into a reply. This will show what is running on your computer. No personal information is shown.

Etrecheck – System Information

I had never heard of Rapport (odd how my bank never told me about it since they participate). The only thing I don't like about it, looking at the user agreement is that information is sent to IBM (possibly personal information) for them to look over remotely and can apparently remotely wipe things off my computer. I remember basic virus/malware checkers on my old Windows PC wiping out legitimate software (e.g. emulators) because it thought they were malware. I'm not crazy about the idea of IBM controlling my computer in any way. They present it as a secure link to the bank in the video, but the license agreement makes it clear it monitors all your web surfing activities and hands it over to IBM. Yeah, like I want a corporation monitoring remotely where I surf, etc. That's a far cry from just doing it while visiting the bank site.

I ran Etrecheck, but I don't really want to post it publicly; it still contains a lot of personal information (apps I run, name of drives, etc.). I'll just list the ones in red (everything else looks normal):

System Integrity Protection status: disabled

-Note: (I had this disabled primarily to use XtraFinder, although it's not working so well lately so I might as well turn it back on. I think the author stopped support when they started SIP like so many other useful Apps figuring most users wouldn't know how to disable it even temporarily).

Startup Items:

FanControlDaemon: Path: /Library/StartupItems/FanControlDaemon

SATARaid5Daemon: Path: /Library/StartupItems/SATARaid5Daemon

Startup items no longer function in OS X Yosemite or later

-Note: I'm guessing these are carry-overs from Mavericks.

Launch Agents:

Note: Other than being by adobe and apparently a helper and possibly for arm cpus, I'm not sure what this is

Launch daemons:

-Note: Probably related to running SMBuP in the past when XBMC/Kodi didn't support Apple's new SMB2. No longer used as Kodi no works with it.

-Note: Well, I wonder if this go abandoned and not cleaned out right when Adobe Reader moved to the new version

-Note: Clearly related to an old DivX browser plugin. Uninstall must have not removed everything

Last one is: Time Machine Not Configured

-Note: (I use CCC).

Hi, I too have this problem with a late 2009 iMac. I'm pretty certain it is Safari causing the problem. I'm happy to change the font size but the options under Preferences now seem to have changed. Under accessibily the option is now "Never use font sizes smaller than ?", whereas I guess what I want is the exact opposite? Any suggestions?

Safari in all my devices (macbook, imac, mac mini) freeze and links go dead in; youtube, facebook, and as you say other modern websites like cnn

This is because of the code implemented in new websites, which safari, despite bragging in Keynoats about how good and fast it is, cannot handle

Safari pretends to be fast by deactivating and not starting a lot of scripts in a webpage unless and when they are needed.

However, Javascript timeouts tend to send Safari to sleep

Safari doesn't work well for many modern websites and won't play videos in most News websites who host their own video at all. I choose Safari as me preferred browser, because i write blogs and can use text replacement and Siri to write without having to type hardly. otherwise i woulnd't use it at all as i consider it to be a semi deprecated browser, which does in fact 'Die on you' when you leave the tab open for a while. Even google search turns into a static inactive page sometimes and cannot click on links. I would recommend anotyher browser, but in 2017, there is no such thing as a good or best browser. They are all useless.

Now that makes sense Carefulowner what you say there.

I have always suspected this to have something to do with the javascript, assuming it was a javascript timeout or something to do with webkit

You have now strengthened that belief, and raised my interest as to what restrictions on font sizes and other parameters are being currently written for ios. I myself am pondering deeply the current state of the Web and laptops, desktops and mobile devices in the sense of screen shapes/sizes, screen resolutions, and webpages/font-sizes etc

You caused me to think about font size programming too

One thing i notice is the recent trend for 2k, 4k, 5k screens and Oled, which of course has made the olden days 1080p screen designed webmastery become tiny text. 8 pixels used to be a standard body text size for notepads and websites, because a 1400 x 900 pixel tft screen used to display such a font as readable and large enough on a pc screen

But now, with 4 k and 2 k screens, even a 16 pixel font looks like you need a telescope to view it with, and seems smaller than what was once an 8 pixel text

So if developers are useing em or pixel size as the way to define font sizes in new devices, then it won't work on all screens. a 16 pixel font on a 4 k screen will be tiny, but on my old sqare dell 1400 pixel screen it will look like sesame street writing

hence, you cannot solve all screen problems for text with pixel size

and if we use archaic terms to program (font size small, medium, large) then all we have s three or four sizes.

But it would be better, because medium on a 4 k screen, and medium on a 1080 p screen, are both medium.

as to Safari freezing, definitely agree with your guess,

This appears to be the same problem that's been especially affecting other Mac and PC users for the last couple of months, all over the globe. The Amazon websites behave particularly badly in this regard, giving rise to not only the freezing phenomenon but also the appearance of the Mac's dreaded spinning beachball. There have been lengthy discussions within these forums on it. All platforms and pretty much all browsers are affected by it. Flash doesn't seem to be a factor, and the three latest versions of OSX - Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan - are equally afflicted.

The problem appears to be caused by changed Javascript at certain websites, which now makes those websites less compatible with browsers. My own investigations showed that, in the case of Safari, the problem was fontsize-sensitive. Certainly, in the case of iMacs, if you went into Safari's Preferences settings, to the Advanced tab, and set the browser fontsize to 14 or less, it avoided the issue and thereafter the site was stable. In your case you're using a MacBook but nevertheless it might be worth you trying the same.

This issue is widespread, but it'll never be fixed unless and until Apple gets enough complaints from the users. So, complain! http://www.apple.com/feedback. The affected websites need telling as well, but it's not so easy to contact their developers, I've found.

This issue has become huge in its importance. Apple appear oblivious to it (or disinterested), even after some months.

My personal view is that, quite apart from the 'edgy' implementation of Javascript at websites, Safari itself has some bugs in this area. I've found the beachball appearing momentarily (with no detrimental after-effect) when switching back from Web use to an onboard app or to the GUI of my router, for example.

I am having the same problem.

When running Safari Version 9.0.3 (11601.4.4), at least once a week my iMac Version 10.11.3 (15D21), the system essentially freezes -- I can move the mouse around on the screen, but cannot click as OP above, nor input from the keyboard.

The only course of action I can take is use the power button to re-boot.

Have tried to VPN in from iPad to kill Safari, but cannot connect when the system is in this state.

Are you able to force quit Safari (command - option/alt - esc)?

When the system freezes like this it causes a 'Web content error' to be logged by the Mac, as can be seen in Activity Monitor, the built-in utility in the Mac (see the Mac's Applications folder/Utilities). Virtually the whole of the CPU's resources get used as a result, so it's no surprise that your attempt to kill Safari remotely failed. On my own iMac I am at least able to Quit the browser when the freezing happens (albeit that I don't now get the issue because I've changed down to a smaller fontsize). I'm running on Mavericks 10.9.5 and Safari 9.0.3.

Eric Root wrote:

Are you able to force quit Safari (command - option/alt - esc)?

I can't say for certain as I was not familiar with this command... I will give it a try next time as this is much more graceful than power reset -- thank you.

But in general, clicking the mouse and other keyboard input is ignored, so not sure if this will work or not. Will report back.

ap3st3r,

I hope it is OK to join your thread as I believe we are having the same issue.

Im having the same issue for about 2 weeks now. I've updated OS and that didn't help.

Getting really frustrating having to reboot at least 1x a day.

Have you reported this to Apple? http://www.apple.com/feedback. Something will only get done about it if Apple concludes that enough people are having the problem - or a similar one - and that Safari is implicated. Since Apple developers do not peruse these forums, merely posting here isn't necessarily going to result in a solution. Have you tried the fontsize workaround? That's worked for some people, myself included, but I suspect it might be machine-dependent (screensize, and therefore that's why it's fontsize-dependent).

I must say that Safari seems completely broken at present, as there seem to be never-ending reports now of users having trouble with slowness, some websites never opening or only partially displaying, and freezing. I manually install my updates to OSX/Safari, but I'm finding the situation with Safari sufficiently worrying that I've purposely not done the latest one. My personal opinion is that bugs were introduced in one or more of the Safari updates some months ago and the effects of those bugs have rolled on into more-recent updates, causing the browser to become more and more unstable. Hence all the complaints in these forums. Meanwhile, Apple seem to have been ignoring the situation. Certainly, the latest update, issued about a week ago, has, by all accounts, made no difference. The freezing phenomenon hasn't been helped by certain websites having revised the Javascript that they use, making it less compatible with Safari and a few other browsers (at Amazon sites the webpage will eventually freeze if, in Safari, you use a fontsize greater than 14, on an iMac for example).

Safari - Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Safari doesn't load a page or webpage items are missing

Safari/other browsers – Website not loading

Have downloaded OS X Elcapitan Version 10.11.4 (15E65) yesterday. Safari "hang" is now more frequent and freezes after an hour of use. I have not noticed any patterns to the websites that cause the problem. In addition to occurring more frequent, some of the hangs are accompanied by the spinning beachball. The only recourse when this occurs is to use the power button to power down, as the keyboard and mouse are non-functional.

I checked some of the suggestions above and my Safari (Version 9.1 (11601.5.17.1)) has no external plug-ins and no extensions installed.

Really hate the notion of using trying other browsers... have been a die-hard mac user forever. This is first true issue I've ever experienced with Mac... really hoping someone has a suggestion to remedy.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PS. I did report the problem last week, but have not received any acknowledgement thus far.