iBook slows down after extensive web surfing

[YS2003]

When I surf web for several hours or so, my iBook slows down. If I reboot it, Safari gets up to the normal speed. I am guessing some types of log files or some other memory/virtual memory management are causing the slow down on Safari's speed.

I have not noticed this type of slow down on my PBs. My iBook is functioning well except for this issue and I am wondering if I can clean up some clutters which are causing Safari to slow down without rebooting. I tried log in and log out; but it did not fix this issue.

My iBook runs 10.4.3. My PBs run 10.3.9 (Al 15), 10.4.2 (Al 12) and 10.4.3 (Ti).

 

[mkrishnan]

I noticed this on 10.4 on my iBook also.... Maybe it has something to do with failing to properly manage cache files? A lot of times, "Reset Safari" seems to help.

Also, do you have any plug-ins installed, such as AcidSearch, PithHelmet, Saft, etc?

 

[MacAficionado]

Try this:

~/Library/Safari/Icons

Delete the contents of Icons.

That should help.

 

[YS2003]

Also, do you have any plug-ins installed, such as AcidSearch, PithHelmet, Saft, etc?

I don't install those 3rd party plug in for Safari as the OEM Safari is as good as it can get.

The next poster said deleting icons from Library/Safari holders will help. Are those icons what you see on the left corner of web address bar and book mark sections?

I am a little puzzled because I don't have this type of Safari slow down with my PBs. Only with this 12" iBook.

 

[mkrishnan]

I am a little puzzled because I don't have this type of Safari slow down with my PBs. Only with this 12" iBook.

From your sig, it looks like the HD is smaller on that iBook than on any of the others. How much free space?

 

[YS2003]

From your sig, it looks like the HD is smaller on that iBook than on any of the others. How much free space?

So far, I have 25 GB of free space on this iBook (37 GB in total). I store "my document" files on the external HD (Lacie Mobile 100 GB) for this notebook. So, there should be ample space for vertual memory usage.

 

[YS2003]

It just came to my mind that the airport reception of my iBook gets poor when I notice poor donwload speed by Safari. If this problem has been caused by the airport reception getting cut off, then, slowdown by Safari is no brainer (it should happen without question).

So, I patched up the airport software with the recent Apple Update. So far, I have not lost airport connection so far nor slow down by Safari. My iBook is right next to the Wireless Belkin 54 G router; so, the airport connection should never get lost from the beginning.

Come to think of it, my 12" PB sometimes loses the wireless signal from the Belkin router sometimes. I think I should patch it up with this Apple Update.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

In addition to clearing out the icons on a regular basis, as mentioned above:
- be sure to restart Safari every now and then
- do not keep too many RSS articles too long
- disable AutoFill Web Forms (except User name and passwords, which doesn't take too much resources)
- Surf without enabling Plug-ins under Web Contents (flash is a killer)

Also, check out Firefox 1.5. Seems more stable than Safari at the moment...

 

[croshtique]

Safari does tend to consume more and more memory as time goes on making the whole computer sluggish. Until Apple get round to fixing this the best bet is to restart Safari every so often or something like Firefox or Camino.

 

[YS2003]

Do all versions of Safari tend to have memory leakage problems? Apple updated Safari many times (big one from the Panther version to the Tiger one) and I am surprised Apple has not fixed this problem. I hope their engineers are working on the fix for this.

 

[mkrishnan]

Do all versions of Safari tend to have memory leakage problems? Apple updated Safari many times (big one from the Panther version to the Tiger one) and I am surprised Apple has not fixed this problem. I hope their engineers are working on the fix for this.

My memory is that this issue was not nearly so bad during late versions of panther.

 

[rosalindavenue]

I've been reading these threads for a year or so; it seems that safari clogs everything up if you use it long enough. When I got my ibook in August the first thing I did was load up firefox. I've had no problems; RC 1.5 is very very nice. I use safari only when I have to; it works better with embedded video than firefox does, for example.