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New to Mac, afraid I ruined my new Macbook Pro Retina

Hieveryone

Hieveryone

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Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
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I bought a new 13 inch Macbook Pro Retina.

I opened terminal and used the following codes to speed up Safari (it wasn't slow, I just thought maybe it would be even faster).


defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay 0.0001


I don't think much happened so I posed the exact same codes again except with 1.0 at the end of each, which I think is default.

Do you think I damaged anything? Is it back to default now like it was when I first bought it?
 
Hieveryone

Hieveryone

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Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
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Does anyone know if these commands even changed anything in the first place? I'm thinking these commands might have been applicable only to older versions of Safari.
 
I

I'm a ROb

macrumors member
Aug 14, 2007
70
3
Netherlands
I just ran these commands:

Code: 
defaults read com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay
defaults read com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay

and both times the reply was:

Code: 
The domain/default pair of (/Users/<<USERNAME>>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari, WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay) does not exist

My guess is: you didn't change a thing.
 
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J

joe-h2o

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2012
997
445
These commands didn't damage your Mac - at worst they messed up the preferences for Safari, but my guess is that they did nothing.

There *are* commands that you can run in the terminal that will do irreparable damage to your install (note, not your hardware, just the install of OS X and your data) that would require you to reinstall and restore from backup so it is strongly recommended that you find out what a command will do before you execute it and that you double check for typos so that a stray / or missing " doesn't cause you a world of hassle.

Also don't assume that someone who posted a command on the internet has double checked it for typos or errors. If you just blindly cut and paste you might regret it.

TL:DR; Be careful when executing commands in the terminal when you do not know what they will do.
 
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Hieveryone

Hieveryone

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Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
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USA
joe-h2o said:
These commands didn't damage your Mac - at worst they messed up the preferences for Safari, but my guess is that they did nothing.

There *are* commands that you can run in the terminal that will do irreparable damage to your install (note, not your hardware, just the install of OS X and your data) that would require you to reinstall and restore from backup so it is strongly recommended that you find out what a command will do before you execute it and that you double check for typos so that a stray / or missing " doesn't cause you a world of hassle.

Also don't assume that someone who posted a command on the internet has double checked it for typos or errors. If you just blindly cut and paste you might regret it.

TL:DR; Be careful when executing commands in the terminal when you do not know what they will do.
Click to expand...


Do you know how to change my preferences for Safari back to default?

Thanks!

----------
I'm a ROb said:
I just ran these commands:

Code: 
defaults read com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay
defaults read com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay

and both times the reply was:

Code: 
The domain/default pair of (/Users/<<USERNAME>>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari, WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay) does not exist

My guess is: you didn't change a thing.
Click to expand...


I ran them individually with the numerical value after i.e. first I ran

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25

then

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay 0.0001
 
TheIguana

TheIguana

macrumors 6502a
Sep 26, 2004
677
492
Canada
Hieveryone said:
Do you know how to change my preferences for Safari back to default?

Thanks!

----------




I ran them individually with the numerical value after i.e. first I ran

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25

then

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay 0.0001
Click to expand...

FYI, the code that corresponds to these preference lines was removed eons ago from WebKit (in the 2005 era). So in effect they don't do anything (except maybe a minor placebo effect ;) )
 
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G

goMac

Contributor
Apr 15, 2004
7,662
1,694
I don't think there is a magic command to speed up Safari.

As other's have mentioned, these commands don't do anything anyway, so you didn't damage any thing.

If you're worried about that sort of thing, then don't run commands in Terminal. You don't need to anyway unless you know what you're doing. There ARE commands that could force you to reinstall everything, so best you just don't mess with Terminal if you don't know how to use it.
 
Q

Qaanol

macrumors 6502a
Jun 21, 2010
571
11
To summarize what everyone else is saying, Safari does not use those settings anymore, your Safari preference file did not have entries for those keywords before you ran those commands, and to restore the file to its proper state you should run:

defaults delete com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay
defaults delete com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay
 
Altemose

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
Hieveryone said:
Do you know how to change my preferences for Safari back to default?

Thanks!

----------




I ran them individually with the numerical value after i.e. first I ran

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitInitialTimedLayoutDelay 0.25

then

defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitResourceTimedLayoutDelay 0.0001
Click to expand...

You didn't do an damage as those codes weren't used since the Panther or Tiger days out of memory!

To reset your Safari preferences, simply click "Safari" in the menu bar by the :apple: and hit "Reset Safari". Select the appropriate check boxes for what you want reset and you are good to go.

I recommend staying away from Terminal if you don't know what commands do!
 
simon48

simon48

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,315
88
Altemose said:
You didn't do an damage as those codes weren't used since the Panther or Tiger days out of memory!

To reset your Safari preferences, simply click "Safari" in the menu bar by the :apple: and hit "Reset Safari". Select the appropriate check boxes for what you want reset and you are good to go.

I recommend staying away from Terminal if you don't know what commands do!
Click to expand...

I doubt that would reset preferences outside of the GUI, but I could be wrong.
 
simon48

simon48

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,315
88
Altemose said:
Sorry, it does. Choosing Reset Safari from the menu bar resets all preferences that the average user has business touching :D That is probably the best explanation I can give.
Click to expand...

As well as the ones they do. ;)
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,136
15,598
California
Hieveryone said:
Do you know how to change my preferences for Safari back to default?
Click to expand...

You are fine. Those changes you made were never applied because Mavericks caches plist files and you would have had to follow this process to get rid of the default cached version for your changes to stick. You did not do that, so no changes to the Safari plist were saved.
 
squarebreathing

squarebreathing

macrumors member
Feb 16, 2016
69
28
Baltimore
Who told you to do this? Sounds like the old "Delete System 32 to make your Windows Faster" troll trick lol (By the way, never ever do this!). Stay out of Terminal unless you know what you are doing.
 
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