[mike.h]

Hi, I am new to Macs so please bare with me. My macbook pro began to stall (spinning beachball) whenever I used safari. I thought it was a problem with my linksys wireless connection, but even after plugging it in to the ethernet cord AND bringing it to work and plugging into our netwrok there it still does not work smoothly. I have firefox also on the computer and that works fine. Any ideas on what this could be?

According to the activity monitor there are 2.37 GB of RAM free out of total of 4 available.

Computer is basic Macbook Pro 15" with snow leopard, out of the box model straight from apple (i.e. non-customized)

thanks,
Mike

[SierraDragon]

Restart to clear RAM. Note that the "Free RAM" reading may or may not be all that meaningful. More important is to observe at what rate page outs are being generated.

Make sure your software is all up to date. Repair Permissions (Disk Utility/First Aid) immediately before and immediately after each software installation/upgrade. I do not consider Permissions Repair to be a "fix" but IMO it is good practice during installations.

Always be aware of what you are installing on any Mac because one can easily install malware. Note that the OS does not and can not defend against the intentional installation of malicious software. Personally I only install apps that come direct from Apple or are purchased from a reputable developer.

For years Firefox has generally been a superior browser to Safari, so you may want to simply use Firefox.

HTH

-Allen

[sek929]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

For years Firefox has been a superior browser to Safari, so you may want to simply use Firefox.

Eh, that's just your opinion. I find Safari to be a faster, more stable browser in general. If you need a myriad of add-ons, then yeah, Firefox wins. In my humble opinion, Safari is a superior experience for simple web-browsing.

I'd re-install Safari 4 and see where that gets you.

[AKcrab]

Moved to Applications.

[Oisín]

Does this happen at any given time, or only just when you’ve started up Safari?

There’s a bug of some kind (or whatever exactly it is) that grinds Safari to a complete standstill for a minute or two of beachballing about 30 seconds or so after you open the first web page upon launching Safari. Usually, though, if you just give it a moment and wait for it to ‘regain consciousness’ without force-quitting it, it’ll be fine for the rest of the session. Solution: don’t quit Safari unless you absolutely have to.

If it’s not just after a start-up, but at all times during a session, then I’m out of my league of ‘expertise’ (and I use this term in its broadest possible sense) and some very knowledgeable person will surely be along to help you much more skillfully.