Browsers on my Powerbook G4 are strangely using up a lot of CPU, keep freezing

This maybe due to excessive Flash Player usage which cripples even some low end G5s. It is highly recommended that you abandon Flash if still installed on your system due to the insecurity.

 

Ads use Flash often. I am not guaranteeing that Flash is causing the issue, but it maybe worth it to avoid it. You can remove Flash which is more secure or install AdBlock and ClickToFlash.

 

The pages you are used to going to may be using an increasing amount of Javascript as well.

This is not an issue with modern Macs using modern browsers, but is now a big issue in the PowerPC Mac community. It's not 2003 any more and most modern Macs usually just power right through this stuff.

An alternative is to try TenFourFox, which is a fork of Firefox, but for PowerPC. You can use it with some plugins such as NoScript and RequestPolicy to cut out some of the more bloated stuff on the websites you browse.

Things like killing Google Analytics and other tracking features that really slow things down.

This is a problem that is only going to get worse as our Macs age.

 

Might be worth trying this:

In bookmarks menu (after clicking Show All Bookmarks icon), slide the list window until the website preview images aren't visible - if you have 100s of bookmarks these are apparently always being updated.

Seems unlikely but when I had the same issue it stopped after doing that.

Also, there's sometimes an increase in web response after setting Configure IPv6 to Off in network preferences.

 

I have tried both TenFourFox and Leopard WebKit. Generally, stock Leopard WebKit is lower on resource usage but is more insecure than TenFourFox.

 

I've found Tenfourfox to be a CPU hog on pretty much everything I've run it on, save for my Dual Core G5. It will pretty much max out both CPUs even on a dual 1ghz Quicksilver or MDD. Less computer are even worse-about the only thing that it really runs well on(aside from my DC G5) is my DLSD Powerbook.

I find Webkit to be a lot more CPU friendly, although certain websites(particularly those that are Flash or Java heavy) can really tax it even on a DP G4 system. Adblock plus along with click to flash can really improve the browsing experience.

I'll also add that installed these plugins on my lower spec Intel computers-namely my C2D-based Macbooks. They will run better than on a PPC Macs, but heavy flash and other scripts will cook the processor and make the computer sounds like a helicopter about to take off. My i5 based MBP doesn't even like some of these sites, but can at least get through them without too much trouble.

 

Some extensions can cause issues like that!