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Apple Acknowledges 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Freezing Issue, Recommends Updating OS X and Flash

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In recent months, 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro owners have been complaining of a bug that causes Safari to completely freeze up, requiring a full system restart. Apple addressed the problem in a new support document that was released on Friday.

Complaints about Safari freezing issue started popping up in March, following the launch of OS X 10.11.4, but the bug was also present during the beta testing period. 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro users appear to be primarily affected, but on the Apple Support Communities and the MacRumors forums, some users with other machines have experienced similar issues.

Luckily, Apple's solution is a simple one, instructing customers to update to the latest version of OS X and upgrade to the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player web plug-in. The newest version of OS X is OS X 10.11.5, which includes a fix for the bug. OS X 10.11.5 was released to the public on May 16.

On the MacRumors forums, a number of users have confirmed that the OS X 10.11.5 update fixes the freezing problem.

Article Link: Apple Acknowledges 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Freezing Issue, Recommends Updating OS X and Flash
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/06/apple-support-document-rmbp-freezing-issue/
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My solution has been: disable Flash in Safari/Preferences.../Security/Plug-in Settings
Only enable it when I need Flash for something (about once every 2 weeks)
Sure beats a complete freeze.
 
Okay Apple, you can tell me to update the OS but don't tell me to update flash.

Few people even have it installed and it's full of vulnerabilities anyway, not to mention almost pointless nowadays. Seriously what the hell Apple.
 
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n-evo said:
Great advice Apple!

PS I don't have Flash installed and run the latest version of OS X. Any other brilliant ideas?
Click to expand...

Reset PRAM & SMC. Run volume verification in Disk Utility. Shut down at least every couple of days, or whenever you're not using the computer, with the option 'reopen windows when logging back in' disabled (unticked).

Could you confirm if this makes a positive difference?
 
Safari is crap. Top sites is constantly freezing. I use a keyboard shortcut to bring it up that I access through a trackpad gesture, then I have all my bookmarks pinned as top sites. I find it easy to use that way but it very frequently stops responding to clicks on the top site links and I have to close safari and reopen to get it to work again, which is fine when I only have one tab open (its quicker to use my gestures to close, and reopen in top sites than it is to move the pointer to the bookmarks bar) but when I have multiple tabs open its a big pain. This bug has been present for well over a year!
 
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garirry said:
Few people even have it installed and it's full of vulnerabilities anyway, not to mention almost pointless nowadays. Seriously what the hell Apple.
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LOL.
It is genuinely funny to read Apple forums sometimes and see the Apple-slanted perspective some people have on the real world.
Flash is still widely used by a lot of people, and even a lot of older corporate Applications. You would have no idea.
 
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coolfactor said:
Crashing is not the same as freezing. Does it happen only with a specific website, but not others?
Click to expand...

It freezes. I have to force shutdown. Seems it happens every time youtube is playing in safari (but I don't know if this is just coincidence).

Anyways, it is annoying as hell and shouldn't happen at all.
 
garirry said:
My point is that nobody should have that installed to begin with.
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A lot of applications and Internet content still rely on Flash.

DPD's label printers, for instance, use Java. They only released a stand-alone app a few days ago. I hate Java with a passion, but I've had to tolerate it, and its twice-daily updates, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get anything collected.

Regrettably things aren't as simple as you make it seem. And your passionate "seriously what the hell Apple" comment doesn't really help either. I imagine you'd have been saying exactly the same thing if updating Flash was documented to fix the issue, but Apple didn't mention this.
 
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This is why Steve Jobs despise flash and want to put it to rest with HTML 5. Flash was great in the past because it provided standardization for how web content will appear while allowing users to experience a whole new level of interaction with the web (ie: animations, video games, presentations).

With the growth of HTML 5, CSS 3 and JavaScript, most of these things are now redundant. Not only that, it's riddled with bugs and security holes in comparison and is bad on CPU cycles leading to poor battery life.

It's an old software that isn't getting a lot of attention anymore and updates are slow.

The simple fix is to phase it out completely and let newer technologies take its place.
 
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TurboPGT! said:
LOL.
It is genuinely funny to read Apple forums sometimes and see the Apple-slanted perspective some people have on the real world.
Flash is still widely used by a lot of people, and even a lot of older corporate Applications. You would have no idea.
Click to expand...

Well said. There are still companies out there that utilise their databases from a DOS-based system, let alone 'upgrading' to Windows XP.

If you're editing the odd Word document and watching a YouTube video every now and then, I'm sure you can uninstall Flash, pat yourself on the back for getting rid of a resource-hog application, and laugh at everybody else who still uses it.

The real world isn't that simple, though.
 
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Does this on my Mid-2014 rMBP which is not what it says on their website.. and pretty sure I have Flash updated.

Less crashy with Safari Technology Preview

GG Apple.
 
My tip is to keep Chrome installed, and use it for the few things that still require Flash. Chrome has flash built in, AND keeps it updated automatically (unlike installing Flash directly where you have to update it yourself).

If you MUST use flash, using Chrome (or Safari with Chrome just for Flash sites) is the way to go. I'm not a big fan of Chrome otherwise but keep it in my arsenal for this reason.
 
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hardy74 said:
It freezes. I have to force shutdown. Seems it happens every time youtube is playing in safari (but I don't know if this is just coincidence).

Anyways, it is annoying as hell and shouldn't happen at all.
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Same here. Seems always to freeze in youtube videos. If we let it run - it will clear for a little while. Need to reboot to get rid of it for a longer period. Have not had flash any of our devices for a long time. It is less often under 10.11.5 - but, it still happens.
 
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zorinlynx said:
My tip is to keep Chrome installed, and use it for the few things that still require Flash. Chrome has flash built in, AND keeps it updated automatically (unlike installing Flash directly where you have to update it yourself).

If you MUST use flash, using Chrome (or Safari with Chrome just for Flash sites) is the way to go. I'm not a big fan of Chrome otherwise but keep it in my arsenal for this reason.
Click to expand...

Very good advice.
 
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