Why is Safari so slow lately? Settings?

Overall, I've posted previously that I have Internet problems, in particular that websites simply won't load. I can get a blue bar that starts, but then just sits. Sometimes after a while, the content will load, other times never.

Often I have to turn WiFi off and then on to get things to work, but this is not always effective (this is on a MacBook Air, now running Sierra with 4GB of RAM but previously under the old OS versions similar poop).

Now I've noticed and started testing, and it seems to me that
- Safari is sometimes hung, but I can often (not always) load the same page or the same search under Firefox or Chrome fairly quickly --> seems Safari is worse
- Google in particular seems problematic, trying to do a search from the top bar.
I also noticed in my Safari settings that Flash and Silverlight are off, as apparently Apple (and Google Chrome) are trying to forcibly deprecate those technologies. I'm wondering if that or some other setting is causing Safari to be so slow?

And why do I use Safari? Well, habit, but also because I can set it so the cursor focus is right smack in the search bar. I use Safari for "open"/accept all cookies etc runs, and have Firefox set to reject everything. Chrome I've only messed with some, since I didn't really see any advantage.

 

You might want to reinstall macOS.

 

On any browser you must routinely delete the cache and background website data. I use Firefox and find certain sites cripple the browser. Once I delete that background data and cache I usually find things go back to operating normally. However sometimes even that's not enough, do I must purge all active logins and cookies too, and then restsart the browser.

 

I have the same problem, had to switch to chrome even though I prefer Safari. What's the point of owning a Mac if you can't properly run Safari? I've been reading about upgrading, reinstalling, deleting cache, etcetera, but lately with all the other issues of everyday life I just didn't want to bother, it's been solved with chrome.

 

Have you tried deleting the Saved Application State/Safari?

I do this from time to time, and it really speeds things up, especially after web surfing or visits to FaceBook.

1. Navigate to ~/Library/Saved Application State/ – this is easy with Command+Shift+G.
2. You'll see a list of saved app states named com.apple.safari.savedstate.
3. Delete the folder pertaining to the application whose saved state you no longer want to maintain.

There will normally be 3 items in the Safari Saved State folder. After web surfing you can expect to see 4 or 5 items there, stuff that's been added from sites that you've visited. You can google this for more details. This also gets rid of those fake virus alert pop ups that won't go away by the usual restarts.

 

I tried Firefox lately, but I find it slower than Safari. Anyway, it seems I have to use fox for discogs and photobucket at least, because the former appears in line mode and the latter doesn't allow me to copy links under Safari.

 

I think Safari gets a bad rap from a.) Mac haters that jump up to criticize anything Apple, and b.) from folks that try to run Apple's fairly feeble attempts to make their stuff run on Windows - Safari (now deceased), iTunes, Quicktime, Bonjour, etc. I use Safari most of the time without many issues. A couple of things I might throw out there:

1. Do you leave your Mac on 24/7: OSx actually has several housekeeping routines it runs on certain schedules that need to run. Cocktail is a pretty nice little $20 utility that you can use to run some simple little maintenance scripts, but not really necessary if you leave it on all the time. Power Nap handles these little things in the background just fine.
2. Safari has a great Developer Mode that will allow you to troubleshoot site, or even tell them to report a different browser. To get to it go to Safari Preferences and look at the bottom of the Advanced Tab.
3. Of course you should periodically go into Preferences and clear out old website data. and see if any extensions are there you don't want. I quit disabling cookies and such long age as the sites are tracking you on their servers now and disabling cookies generally causes more problems than it's worth.
4. Run an ad blocker Like AdAware, just be aware that many sites live off of adware and they may or not even run with ads off.
5. Avoid Chrome. It was a nice fast little browser when it came out and Google has allowed it to become a bloated, memory hogging/leaking mess.
6. I have better luck running one of the Java Runtime Edition packages (JRE) than just the basic "Get Java".
7. Yes Apple has been trying for years to kill Flash and rightfully so. HTML5 is much better.

Safari has certainly had it's ups and down, but I find that in Sierra it seems to be more than adequate.

Just my take on it YMMV

 

I wonder if it might be your internet connection. I've been experiencing the very same things you describe using Safari on my home AT&T DSL line. That line is notorious for noise and dropouts and general unreliability. But for the past three days, I've been a guest in a house that has genuine high-speed internet (Xfinity or Uverse or something like that). The result: Absolutely zero problems with Safari.
-Bob

 

I use Safari on an Air, and I have noticed any problems. Occasionally, some things load slow, but I also sometimes notice it using Firefox on my Windows machine. So, I assume it's an Internet issue.

 

been using this for years.
CCleaner for Mac - Piriform

 

I have no idea why this would work, but it seems to: When Safari begins to "hang," I find that cleaning up my desktop can fix it. I.e., taking files and folders that are sitting on my desktop (because I never took the trouble to put them in the folders on the hard drive where they belong) and putting them in the folders on the hard drive where they belong. Reducing the columns of unfiled files on the right side of my desktop to two at the most will frequently do the trick.

 

Keeping lots of stuff on your desktop is a known drain on resources, both Windows and Mac. Never made much sense but always been that way.

 

Well said.

 

I also use this and love it. I also use the Cocktail app.

 

I find it gets slow around midnight.