brand new to mac- Safari problems?

[Ruffian829]

Hi, I'm a very new Mac user- I just bought a (new) MacBook on Sunday night, which is my first apple product, except for an IPod Mini... so I'm not to suave with the Mac technology yet.
However, I've had Safari unexpectedly close on me a few times... I can't seem to find out any correlation between when it closes to try and figure out why... does anyone have any idea why it could be doing this? Like I said... its a BRAND NEW MacBook and I haven't installed any other programs or anything at all on it yet.

Thanks!

 

[iToaster]

Check software update and download and install everything that shows up. If you need to restart, check again until nothing shows up. Of course, it might not be a software issue, does it quit on a certain website or just at random?

 

[MacDawg]

+1 on the software updates

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[cherry su]

or you could try Firefox 3 (get it now while it's still hot) or Safari 4, which passes the Acid3 test

 

[MattJessop]

I have to say that so far I've been very unimpressed with Firefox 3 on the Mac, so personally I'd stay away from it. I just found it very slow and unresponsive, although some of the features seemed quite good. Plus it still doesn't take advantage of certain OS X features that are kinda standard across all apps. Hopefully they'll fix it, but for me Safari is still the best way to go still.

In answer to your original question, it is best to try the software update as others have suggested. Safari used to do this to me too a while ago. Updates seemed to have fixed it.

 

[Ruffian829]

is there a way to manually check for updates? Or will they just show up?

 

[scienide09]

Normally new updates will show up, if you've got software update set to check automatically.

To force it to check, navigate to the top-left corner of the menu bar, click the Apple icon, and access software update from there. If your Mac is brand new and it hasn't updated itself yet, there are likely to be a number of updates for you.

Welcome, and enjoy your new Mac!

 

[agentphish]

Again, Try updates first...

If that doesn't help, not that this would necessarily make sense this soon after you've gotten your mac, but each program has a set of preferences, stored in a .plist file.

I've had safari bug out on me several times over the years and nothing I tried seemed to fix it except deleting the preferences to the trash, emptying the trash and then starting Safari again.

The preferences are stored in /your username/library/prefrences

Look for one that contains SAFARI. most likely will start with "com.apple"

Good luck. Give Firefox 3 a try. I like it.

 

[Ruffian829]

Ok, I am going to try the software updates... If I remember correctly, some were installed but the computer needed to be restarted before they were effective, and I know I had put it to sleep but I dont believe I had restarted it, so I've done that and I had some other updates but they were for things like iMovie and stuff...

so, fingers crossed, hopefully this will work

Thanks

 

[Ruffian829]

Ok, my software is all updated, and its still shutting down (a few times a day)
Last time was on eBay but I cannot remember what the previous sites were... I'm trying hard to find a correlation but I can't seem to come across one.

Someone mentioned sending the preferances to the trash... what exactly does this do? Does it have the potential to harm anything?

Would it be worth taking it to the apple store to be looked at ? Problem is I can't find any one thing that does it, it seems to happen randomally.

 

[Ruffian829]

So I've been keeping track of when Safari quits- as it has done it a bit more frequently now - once last night and twice in the past hour- the sites were totally different- ebay, aim mail, and google.
so there doesn't seem to be a correlation there- or among how many tabs I have open it doesn't seem to do it more if there are like 4 as opposed to 1...

and more thoughts? Is there a way to like uninstall and reinstall safari? like you could do on a PC?

 

[aaquib]

So I've been keeping track of when Safari quits- as it has done it a bit more frequently now - once last night and twice in the past hour- the sites were totally different- ebay, aim mail, and google.
so there doesn't seem to be a correlation there- or among how many tabs I have open it doesn't seem to do it more if there are like 4 as opposed to 1...

and more thoughts? Is there a way to like uninstall and reinstall safari? like you could do on a PC?

Try installing Firefox 3 just to see if it's Safari that's causing a problem. Or, you can download Safari 4 developer preview.

 

[emptyCup]

Since it is a new computer, try using your warranty. Call Applecare at 800-275-2273. They have always been good about walking me through problems like this.