AgentStingray

Q: Safari / OSX needs to be updated

My mom is having problems accessing various online accounts on Safari. Such as banking, insurance, etc. She gets an error on the various websites she is trying to access telling her that her version of safari is too old and the sites restrict her from doing anything on the site. She has an old version I agree, 6.2.8, but it is because she has an older computer. I am reluctant to upgrade her OS (currently she has 10.8.5) because the last time I upgraded my mac (a late 2009 mac pro desktop) to Yosemite from 10.6.8 it caused all kinds of problems with my system because it was too big of a OS for my machine to handle despite the fact that I exceeded all of the system requirements. I don't want my mom, who is the farthest thing from a tech-savy person, to have to deal with issues that come from upgrading to an OS that is too much for her machine to handle. I want to think I've learned from the mistake I made with my machine.

 

My mom has a 13" MacBook Pro Mid-2012, 2.5 GHz Intel core i5 with 4 GB Ram.

 

 

My questions are:

 

1: Is Safari completely tied in with your OS version now? Can I ONLY upgrade it if I upgrade the OS? If so, why did Apple do this cause it really ticks me off

 

2: Do I risk upgrading to Yosemite (probably not even available anymore) or El Capitan, both of which have tons of bad reviews (one from myself, albeit on an older machine, but one with more Ram and a faster processor)?

 

3: Is it better if I just introduce her to Firefox?

 

Thanks in advance!

Posted on Sep 9, 2016 3:49 PM

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Q: Safari / OSX needs to be updated

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Csound1,Helpful

    Csound1 Csound1 Sep 9, 2016 3:51 PM in response to AgentStingray
    Level 9 (50,245 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 9, 2016 3:51 PM in response to AgentStingray

    Yes, Safari is tied to the OS X version (and always has been except for rare security updates)

    Bad reviews are meaningless,

    You could introduce her to an alternative if you choose to, I would suggest Opera over Firefox.

  • by Niel,Helpful

    Niel Niel Sep 9, 2016 3:51 PM in response to AgentStingray
    Level 10 (311,916 points)
    Sep 9, 2016 3:51 PM in response to AgentStingray

    1. For your version, yes. While security updates sometimes update Safari independently of the OS, there are none applicable to you; Safari 7 and newer require at least Mavericks.

    2. Install it onto a second partition or external drive to test it.

    3. It depends on whether or not she likes it.

     

    (144520)

  • by Carolyn Samit,Solvedanswer

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Sep 9, 2016 3:52 PM in response to AgentStingray
    Level 10 (120,256 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 9, 2016 3:52 PM in response to AgentStingray

    1. Yes. Safari cannot be updated beyond the current version (6) on a Mac running v10.8.5.

     

    Since Yosemite is no longer available from the App Store, see if the Mac meets El Capitan requirements Upgrade to OS X El Capitan

     

    Then she would have Safari 9.1.3 installed. The latest version of Safari available.

     

    If you decide to upgrade the Mac, make sure to backup all the important data beforehand.