Safari and "MacRumors" site won't load

[stillcrazyman]

Odd issue with Safari not loading the "MacRumors" site. Ever.

I'm currently running the latest Sierra on my iMac. No issues with other sites. Just MR. I've uninstalled all the extensions I had (3) in Safari. No luck.
I've run all the utilities I can to see if there are any issues. I've cleared the cache, reset what I could find.
No virus, no malware, no adware.

On my iPhone, Safari will load the MR site just fine. And, other browsers on my iMac load it fine.

I'm stumped :-/

 

[Taz Mangus]

Try remove the Safari folder under your user account Library folder and remove the Safari preferences file under your user account Library/Preferences folder. Logout and log back in.

 

[flowrider]

Safari is my main browser, but it seems to be persnickety. Sometimes certain sites won't load, other times they will. When this happens, and it is rare, I use Firefox for the offending site and then return to Safari. I don't ever recall having an issue with this site, but I have had issues with http://barefeats.com. In fact that site is not loading as I type this.

Lou

 

[stillcrazyman]

I cleared the plist files from my Library. I even logged out of MR and am still unable to access this site. (I'm using Chrome to access).

I'm just puzzled. This is the only site I have an issue with.

 

[Weaselboy]

I cleared the plist files from my Library. I even logged out of MR and am still unable to access this site. (I'm using Chrome to access).

I'm just puzzled. This is the only site I have an issue with.

Try going to Users & Groups in System Prefs and make a new user account just to test with. Then reboot and login to that account and see if it works. If it does, then that at least tells us it is something specific to your existing account.

 

[stillcrazyman]

Try going to Users & Groups in System Prefs and make a new user account just to test with. Then reboot and login to that account and see if it works. If it does, then that at least tells us it is something specific to your existing account.

I just did that. New user account, fresh login. Same issue after logging in.

I'm not too terribly worried. I like Safari. I like Chrome. I'll just use Chrome when I want to access MR.

 

[Weaselboy]

I just did that. New user account, fresh login. Same issue after logging in.

I'm not too terribly worried. I like Safari. I like Chrome. I'll just use Chrome when I want to access MR.

Hmm.... that worries me a little is another account does not fix it. Maybe you have some malware going on.

Try another test... hold the shift key when rebooting to boot to safe mode. That will stop all startup and launch items from running. Let us know what that does.

 

[stillcrazyman]

Hmm.... that worries me a little is another account does not fix it. Maybe you have some malware going on.

Try another test... hold the shift key when rebooting to boot to safe mode. That will stop all startup and launch items from running. Let us know what that does.

I've checked for malware - none present.

Well, booting in Safe Mode seems to have allowed me to login and browse this site without any issue.
I'll have to do some digging and see what loads up at startup - gotta be something.

 

[Weaselboy]

Well, booting in Safe Mode seems to have allowed me to login and browse this site without any issue.

Ahh.... good. This is a big clue. So you have something launching at startup causing this.

Try running the app Etrecheck. It will create an anonymized report showing everything launching (restart out of safe mode first). You can post the report here for us to have a look if you like.

 

[stillcrazyman]

Etrecheck report:

EtreCheck version: 3.4 (420)

Report generated 2017-07-09 12:03:03

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 2:03

Performance: Excellent



Click the [Lookup] links for more information from Apple Support Communities.

Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.



Problem: No problem - just checking



Hardware Information: ⓘ

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012)

[Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

iMac - model: iMac13,2

1 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3770) CPU: 4-core

32 GB RAM Upgradeable - [Instructions]

BANK 0/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM0

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 0/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

BANK 1/DIMM1

8 GB DDR3 1600 MHz ok

Bluetooth: Good - Handoff/Airdrop2 supported

Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

iCloud Quota: 40.82 GB available


Video Information: ⓘ

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX - VRAM: 2048 MB

iMac 2560 x 1440


Disk Information: ⓘ

OWC Mercury EXTREME Pro 6G SSD disk0: (960.2 GB) (Solid State - TRIM: No)

[Show SMART report]

EFI (disk0s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Macintosh HD (disk0s2 - Journaled HFS+) / [Startup]: 959.34 GB (832.86 GB free)

Recovery HD (disk0s3 - Journaled HFS+) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB


USB Information: ⓘ

USB20Bus

hub_device

hub_device

Apple Inc. BRCM20702 Hub

Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

Apple, Inc. Keyboard Hub

Apple Inc. Apple Keyboard

USB20Bus

hub_device

Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)

USB30Bus

ASMedia Mercury Elite Pro USB Hub

Elite Pro USB

Pro USB disk1: (4 TB)

EFI (disk1s1 - MS-DOS FAT32) <not mounted> [EFI]: 210 MB

Warehouse (disk1s2 - Journaled HFS+) /Volumes/Warehouse : 4.00 TB (3.26 TB free)

ASMedia Mercury Elite Pro USB Hub


Thunderbolt Information: ⓘ

Apple Inc. thunderbolt_bus


System Software: ⓘ

macOS Sierra 10.12.5 (16F73) - Time since boot: less than an hour


Gatekeeper: ⓘ

Mac App Store and identified developers


Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/Capture One 10.app

[not loaded] com.Leaf.driver.LeafFwXDriverMatcher (1.2.0d1) [Lookup]



/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.FileShield (3.0.0 - SDK 10.9) [Lookup]



/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.1 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]



/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.squirrels.airparrot.framebuffer (1.2 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.squirrels.driver.AirParrotSpeakers (1.7 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]



System Launch Agents: ⓘ

[not loaded] 7 Apple tasks

[loaded] 184 Apple tasks

[running] 91 Apple tasks


System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[not loaded] 41 Apple tasks

[loaded] 178 Apple tasks

[running] 97 Apple tasks


Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] com.avast.update-agent.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (Shell Script bb25154c - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-03-28) [Lookup]


Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-05-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist (Shell Script fc55b6fa - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (Shell Script 22f94791 - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.update.plist (Shell Script d6c32197 - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[running] com.backblaze.bzserv.plist (Backblaze - installed 2017-06-09) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-04-19) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-07-09) [Lookup]


User Launch Agents: ⓘ

[loaded] com.avast.home.userinit.plist (Shell Script 6d00c265 - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[running] com.backblaze.bzbmenu.plist (Backblaze - installed 2017-07-09) [Lookup]


User Login Items: ⓘ

Google Drive Application

(/Applications/Google Drive.app)


Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

JavaAppletPlugin: 15.0.1 (installed 2013-11-07) Check version

eMusic: Unknown (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2017-05-17)

AdobePDFViewer: 8.1.7 (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: 12.2.6 (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

Google Earth Web Plug-in: 6.0 (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

GarminGpsControl: 2.9.2.0 Release (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

Silverlight: 5.1.10411.0 (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

DirectorShockwave: 11.5.2r602 (installed 2013-02-27) [Lookup]

iPhotoPhotocast: 7.0 (installed 2013-02-27)



Safari Extensions: ⓘ

[enabled] DuckDuckGo - DuckDuckGo - http://duckduckgo.com (installed 2017-06-25)

[enabled] Ghostery - GHOSTERY, Inc. - https://www.ghostery.com/ (installed 2017-06-23)

[enabled] Adguard AdBlocker - adguard - http://adguard.com (installed 2017-06-23)


3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

Backblaze Backup (installed 2017-06-09) [Lookup]


Time Machine: ⓘ

Skip System Files: NO

Mobile backups: OFF

Auto backup: YES

Volumes being backed up:

Macintosh HD: Disk size: 959.34 GB Disk used: 126.48 GB

Warehouse: Disk size: 4.00 TB Disk used: 738.66 GB

Destinations:

Backups 2017 [Local]

Total size: 4.00 TB

Total number of backups: 13

Oldest backup: 3/18/17, 10:36 PM

Last backup: 7/2/17, 2:44 PM

Size of backup disk: Adequate

Backup size 4.00 TB > (Disk used 865.14 GB X 3)


Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

3% WindowServer

2% mdworker

2% Google Chrome Helper

2% mdworker

1% kernel_task


Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

1.54 GB kernel_task

357 MB Photo Mechanic 5

297 MB Google Chrome Helper

286 MB Google Chrome

247 MB Google Drive


Top Processes by Network Use: ⓘ

Input Output Process name

398 KB 15 KB mDNSResponder

28 KB 3 KB com.avast.daemon

15 KB 4 KB com.avast.proxy

10 KB 9 KB apsd

13 KB 1 KB netbiosd


Top Processes by Energy Use: ⓘ

5.92 WindowServer

2.52 Google Chrome Helper

1.68 Photo Mechanic 5

1.60 Google Chrome


Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

22.55 GB Available RAM

14.93 GB Free RAM

9.45 GB Used RAM

7.63 GB Cached files

0 B Swap Used



Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

2017-07-08 07:24:12 Safari.app Crash [Open]

Cause: Enabled Extensions:

com.adguard.safari-N33TQXN8C7 (2.5.12 - 2.5.12) Adguard AdBlocker

com.betteradvertising.ghostery-HPY23A294X (5494 - 5.4.10) Ghostery

com.duckduckgo.safari-HKE973VLUW (38 - 1.8.0) DuckDuckGo


Files deleted by EtreCheck: ⓘ

2017-07-09 07:17:13 - com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:13 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.SafariBookmarksSyncer.plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:13 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.dxpticsPro11LaunchAgent.plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:13 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.keystone.agent.plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:13 - ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.spotify.webhelper.plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:26 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.line6.l6ksettingmgr.plist - Unknown

2017-07-09 07:17:26 - /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.nalpeiron.netpro.plist - Unknown



*** I see some things loading (Old Plug-ins) that probably shouldn't be there.

 

[Weaselboy]

Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

/Applications/Capture One 10.app

[not loaded] com.Leaf.driver.LeafFwXDriverMatcher (1.2.0d1) [Lookup]



/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/fileshield/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.FileShield (3.0.0 - SDK 10.9) [Lookup]



/Library/Application Support/Avast/components/proxy/unsigned

[loaded] com.avast.PacketForwarder (2.1 - SDK 10.11) [Lookup]

Launch Agents: ⓘ

[running] com.avast.update-agent.plist (AVAST Software a.s. - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.userinit.plist (Shell Script bb25154c - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-03-28) [Lookup]


Launch Daemons: ⓘ

[running] com.adobe.agsservice.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2017-05-27) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.init.plist (Shell Script fc55b6fa - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.uninstall.plist (Shell Script 22f94791 - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.avast.update.plist (Shell Script d6c32197 - installed 2017-04-22) [Lookup]

[running] com.backblaze.bzserv.plist (Backblaze - installed 2017-06-09) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2017-04-19) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.malwarebytes.HelperTool.plist (Malwarebytes Corporation - installed 2017-07-09) [Lookup]

My money is on all this Avast stuff you have running. Go to these folders and get rid of everything from Avast then restart and test.

~/Library/LaunchAgents (~ is your users folder)
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
/System/Library/Extensions/

 

[stillcrazyman]

I'll try that - disabling Avast.

Before that though, I removed these old plug-ins. No change.

One other thing I'm trying to track down is some old extensions that are loading:

/System/Library/Extensions

[loaded] com.squirrels.airparrot.framebuffer (1.2 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]

[loaded] com.squirrels.driver.AirParrotSpeakers (1.7 - SDK 10.7) [Lookup]

Haven't had AirParrot in a few years....

 

[stillcrazyman]

Well well well.... Avast was the issue.
I uninstalled it and verified there were no traces left anywhere.
MacRumors now loads and pops right along in Safari. In fact, the whole experience feels a bit snappier over all the web sites I frequent.

Given the general consensus regarding anti-virus programs, I'll try running without it for a while. I will continue to use malwarebytes and other adware protections.

Muchos Gracias to @Weaselboy for the suggestion.

 

[UL2RA]

Avast is crap, as you've discovered. Stick with Malwarebytes and common sense. If you still want an anti-virus program for Mac, Kaspersky and BitDefender are okay.

 

[iapplelove]

I'm having the same issues. Certain sites will not load in safari any longer.

Also getting a pop up warning from safari telling me cetain but well known sites cannot be verified.

 

[Erdbeertorte]

This happened to me too one or two weeks ago and strangely only MacRumors was affected from all websites I visit and even more strangely sometime it suddenly worked again for a short while without doing anything. I did not try a different browser than Safari and Safari TP.

Don't know what I exactly did to finally solve it completely but I think the cause was a combination of Adguard settings (not the browser extension), my DNS settings (where I tried some different addresses) and maybe the High Sierra beta.

Before, disabling Adguard completely always helped and now I have no problem anymore with the same settings and version of it.


And yes: Please don't install anything like Avast or Avira on your Mac, those harm more than they might help you. In the best case they "only" slow down your whole system.

 

[MacGizmo]

Had the same issue with MacRumors and several other Mac-related sites.
I did a fairly extensive comparison of sites, which you can read here. MacRumors and CultofMac are the worst offenders of trackers, ads and general B.S.

Long story short, an ad blocker did the trick... though I also switched to Safari Technology Preview.