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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Applications > Any way to speed up safari?

Any way to speed up safari?
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smileLP
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Apr 5, 2009, 09:19 PM
 
i don't know if it's the last month or two, or all along, but my safari seems slower than it should be.

i have a fast/powerful mac, and minimum 15MBPS DL

yet going from web page to web page seem SLOW!

any tricks to speeding up safari in settings or otherwise?

thanks fer lissenin'.....
     
Cold Warrior
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Apr 5, 2009, 09:21 PM
 
Safari menu > Reset Safari

Also change your DNS to use www.opendns.com
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 5, 2009, 09:25 PM
 
reset? is there any consequence to doing that? i.e. losing favorites/bookmarks, other settings?

also pardon my ignorance, but what is the other thing you mention? what does that do?

thanks!
     
Simon
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Apr 6, 2009, 02:24 AM
 
When you chose reset Safari you will be presented with dialog that lets you chose what is deleted.

The other is a new set of DNS. The DNS is the domain name server, it's the thing that translates forums.macnn.com to 207.58.150.187. OpenDNS has very fast and reliable DNS. Many people who complained about bad Mac browsing performance were simply suffering from bad DNS performance (some MS DNS played very badly with Leopard for some reason). Switching to OpenDNS usually returns snappy browsing.

Follow CW's link to read more about. You can insert OpenDNS' IPs
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
at Sys Prefs > Network > Ethernet/Airport (depending on what you use) > Advanced > DNS.
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 6, 2009, 08:48 PM
 
simon, when i got to the DNS page, to add the 2 #'s you said should be added, there already were 2 #'s there, gray'ed out

i added the 2 new ones anyway, not gray

do i need to delete the original 2/gray'ed? i didn't see how

is it a restart or some other trick/issue?

thanks for the help
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 7, 2009, 02:38 AM
 
Also, try the Safari 4 beta.

Much faster.
     
Simon
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Apr 7, 2009, 03:17 AM
 
The gray ones are the ones supplied by your DHCP server. Don't worry about them. (You can't delete them anyway). No restart required. You can verify that you're using OpenDNS' servers by opening a Terminal window and doing something like

nslookup forums.macnn.com

The output of that command should start by saying which name server was used to resolve the address. It should be one of the OpenDNS IPs.
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 8, 2009, 09:59 AM
 
>> opening a Terminal window<<

something tells me you guys are all programmers. i don't even know what this means ; (

also, it doesn't seem faster, so, admittedly not having checked as you described, i might guess the new DNS #'s/thingys are NOT working

should i go for the safari 4 beta?
     
Simon
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Apr 8, 2009, 04:46 PM
 
/Applications/Utilities/Terminal
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 8, 2009, 05:08 PM
 
it listed a diff #

not the grayed out one, not the new ones i put in
     
Cold Warrior
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Apr 8, 2009, 08:45 PM
 
Have you installed anything recently, especially anything claiming to be a video codec??
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 8, 2009, 08:53 PM
 
nope
     
- - e r i k - -
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Apr 8, 2009, 09:03 PM
 
Download Safari 4. Download Glims

Also make sure you have the latest Flash plugin installed. Remove the old plugin completely.

Install ClickToFlash.

Remove ads with a HOSTS file.

[ fb ] [ flickr ] [] [scl] [ last ] [ plaxo ]
     
Simon
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Apr 9, 2009, 02:20 AM
 
If your browsing is slow because of DNS issues, switching to a beta version browser won't help. Get the DNS issue sorted out first, then chose the appropriate browser.

Have you made sure you entered the DNS IPs in the appropriate fields? Are you using AirPort or Ethernet?
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 9, 2009, 09:14 AM
 
using ethernet

(to catch the etherbunny!)
     
Simon
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Apr 9, 2009, 10:12 AM
 
So when you open Sys Prefs > Network what does it say in the DNS Server field?

It should look like this:
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:20 PM
 
it does look like that! same #'s in the DNS, but nothing sped up
     
Cold Warrior
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:30 PM
 
Try Safari 4 beta like erik suggested.
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:34 PM
 
ok will do. should i do all that stuff like saving my bookmarks, etc. first, or does it carry all that stuff over? thanks again
     
Chuckit
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:35 PM
 
Safari 4 uses the same bookmarks and so on that Safari 3 does. I'd always advise having a Time Machine backup in general, but there's no reason to expect any trouble with Safari 4.
Chuck
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Spheric Harlot
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by Cold Warrior View Post
Try Safari 4 beta like erik suggested.
Oi!

     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 9, 2009, 04:41 PM
 
ok, thanks all. i'll report back on my success, and hopefully not lack thereof ; )
     
wfuglaar
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Apr 9, 2009, 05:16 PM
 
I ran across this forum and thread by accident. Safari had slowed down on all three of the household Macs, and I didn't know what to do. Based on the tips here, I installed Open DNS on our router. Wow, what a difference. Hulu is watchable again and the increased speed in loading other pages is definitely noticeable.

Thanks from a drive-by viewer.
( Last edited by wfuglaar; Apr 9, 2009 at 05:17 PM. Reason: omitted word)
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 9, 2009, 05:24 PM
 
why didn't i get a speed boost from installing open DNS??!!!!!! ; (
     
Chuckit
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Apr 9, 2009, 05:41 PM
 
Originally Posted by smileLP View Post
why didn't i get a speed boost from installing open DNS??!!!!!! ; (
It's not magic. It only makes a difference if your previous DNS was slower.
Chuck
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JTh
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Apr 12, 2009, 02:48 PM
 
Install Firefox, and let us know if it's just as slow.

Let's figure out if this is an application issue or a web connection issue.

You say "fast/powerful" - How old is it? Brand new, 2-3 years old?
     
Randman
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Apr 12, 2009, 09:37 PM
 
Empty your cache. If you have autofill fields on, edit them down then turn them off.

This is a computer-generated message and needs no signature.
     
smileLP  (op)
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Apr 14, 2009, 12:25 AM
 
> Empty your cache. If you have autofill fields on, edit them down then turn them off<

is this something that can make a significant difference, or is it more a "might as well try this"?

i ask because when i've done this in the past it's been a pain having to reset things, etc. plus losing auto stuff

as for my computer

it's a twin 2.5 ghz, maybe 5 yrs old

also, firefox is never any faster

here's more specs if you like ; )

Model Name: Power Mac G5
Model Identifier: PowerMac7,3
Processor Name: PowerPC G5 (3.0)
Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz
Number Of CPUs: 2
L2 Cache (per CPU): 512 KB
Memory: 3 GB
Bus Speed: 1.25 GHz
Boot ROM Version: 5.1.8f7
     
- - e r i k - -
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Apr 14, 2009, 01:04 AM
 
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Oi!



My post had the links

[ fb ] [ flickr ] [] [scl] [ last ] [ plaxo ]
     
   
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