Safari Settings & Options Questions!

[Bazzy]

Hi All,


I am not too clued up on things but I frequently encounter problems with Safari (5.0.4) like spinning wheels, quitting, slow, locking up, loading probs etc.

I have read numerous things from various places like resetting Safari, clearing Cache, deleting Cookies etc. I will admit, I do not know or understand what all this means technically & it;'s implications so I would like to ask, if I do reset Safari, clear the cache & delete Cookies, will I:

1) Lose any data?
2) Lose any Safari settings?
4) Lose Bookmarks?
5) Lose Stored passwords to websites?
6) Lose anything else or not have access to something?

Finally, websites that I subscribe to regularly ask me to re-log on even though my password is stored on them & I have to go through the hassle of requesting a new one & setting it up - it seems to happen for no reason at all - can anyone explain why & how to stop this?

Many Thanks!

Bazzy!

 

[-aggie-]

Just choose to reset Safari and you’ll see exactly what it does. You have a number of choices or you can just choose to quit and not reset.

 

[S.B.G]

You won't lose any data, but you will lose any settings you tell Safari to reset. You will not lose any bookmarks and stored passwords will only be reset if you tell it to.

The sites that always ask you to logon to again may not be storing the cookies. What are your cookie handling settings?

What kind of computer do you have and how old is it? Do you get the spinning wheel and like problems with other applications besides Safari?

 

[Bazzy]

You won't lose any data, but you will lose any settings you tell Safari to reset. You will not lose any bookmarks and stored passwords will only be reset if you tell it to.

The sites that always ask you to logon to again may not be storing the cookies. What are your cookie handling settings?

What kind of computer do you have and how old is it? Do you get the spinning wheel and like problems with other applications besides Safari?

Hi,

I have a June 2010 2.66 i7 17" UMBP running Snow Leopard 10.6.6. I mainly only ever use Safari as it is made by Apple so figured it would be best to use as it is designed by Apple themselves?

I do not know how to take snapshots of the various Panes & post them like you did but my security tab is just like the one you posted (everything ticked) except that the Cookies section says "accept Cookies only from sites I visit" & Database Storage is at 500mb.

What does deleting the Cookies & clearing the Cache actually do may I ask? Also, will the quick link tabs I have set to frequently visited websites at the top sort of menubar in Safari all be lost if I reset Safari?

I get spinning wheels on certain other apps - especially Microsoft ones & Google Sketch Up. Safari also uses up a lot of CPU sometimes & the temperature goes up rapidly and quite often Activity Monitor shows 'Safari Not Responding" so I have to quit & start again.

I have "Main Menu" Application & always shut down the UMBP via "Execute Batch Tasks" as someone who I use to know that was familiar with Apple told me to do so as that would make sure it is kept in good shape - hope that helps!

Bazzy!

 

[Rowf]

'I do not know how to take snapshots of the various Panes & post them like you did'

command + shift + 3 will take a full screenshot
command + shift + 4 will give you crosshairs so that you can take a shot of a specific part of the screen.
The images are saved to your desktop.

There is also an application in the utilities folder called grab that does the same kind of thing.

Unfortunately I don't know how you go about placing the images on the forum, maybe drag and drop?
Hopefully someone will tell you how to do this in order to help solve your Safari problem.

 

[S.B.G]

Hi,

I have a June 2010 2.66 i7 17" UMBP running Snow Leopard 10.6.6. I mainly only ever use Safari as it is made by Apple so figured it would be best to use as it is designed by Apple themselves?

I do not know how to take snapshots of the various Panes & post them like you did but my security tab is just like the one you posted (everything ticked) except that the Cookies section says "accept Cookies only from sites I visit" & Database Storage is at 500mb.

What does deleting the Cookies & clearing the Cache actually do may I ask? Also, will the quick link tabs I have set to frequently visited websites at the top sort of menubar in Safari all be lost if I reset Safari?

I get spinning wheels on certain other apps - especially Microsoft ones & Google Sketch Up. Safari also uses up a lot of CPU sometimes & the temperature goes up rapidly and quite often Activity Monitor shows 'Safari Not Responding" so I have to quit & start again.

I have "Main Menu" Application & always shut down the UMBP via "Execute Batch Tasks" as someone who I use to know that was familiar with Apple told me to do so as that would make sure it is kept in good shape - hope that helps!

Bazzy!

Taking snapshots is as described by Rowf here and I also have a button programmed on my mouse to do this also.

HTTP cookie
A cookie, also known as a web cookie, browser cookie, and HTTP cookie, is a piece of text stored on a user's computer by their web browser. A cookie can be used for authentication, storing site preferences, shopping cart contents, the identifier for a server-based session, or anything else that can be accomplished through storing text data.
A cookie consists of one or more name-value pairs containing bits of information, which may be encrypted for information privacy and data security purposes. The cookie is sent as a field in the header of the HTTP response by a web server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server.
Cookies may be set by the server with or without an expiration date. Cookies without an expiration date exist until the browser terminates, while cookies with an expiration date may be stored by the browser until the expiration date passes. Users may also manually delete cookies in order to save space or to address privacy issues.
As text, cookies are not executable. Because they are not executed, they cannot replicate themselves and are not viruses. However, due to the browser mechanism to set and read cookies, they can be used as spyware (see zombie cookie and evercookie for more details). Anti-spyware products may warn users about some cookies because cookies can be used to track computer activity—a privacy concern, later causing possible malware.
Most modern browsers allow users to decide whether to accept cookies, and the time frame to keep them, but rejecting cookies makes some websites unusable.

Web cache
Web caching is the caching of web documents (e.g., HTML pages, images) to reduce bandwidth usage, server load, and perceived lag. A web cache stores copies of documents passing through it; subsequent requests may be satisfied from the cache if certain conditions are met.

Also, will the quick link tabs I have set to frequently visited websites at the top sort of menubar in Safari all be lost if I reset Safari?

No you shouldn't lose any bookmarks when you reset Safari.

Speed up Safari
Apple provide a quick way to empty the cache, clear cookies, erase history and reset autofill information. This can often provide a quick fix for improving performance. The disadvantage is that you will need to re-enter log in information on sites that had previously stored data in cookies.

If you're getting the spinning wheel a lot, check your RAM usage and post it here along with your CPU usage. You can find them under Activity Monitor. It could be excessive CPU usage, or that you don't have enough RAM or that you have a hard drive that is failing.

Unfortunately I don't know how you go about placing the images on the forum, maybe drag and drop?
Hopefully someone will tell you how to do this in order to help solve your Safari problem.

See attached screen shot, just below the Reply to Thread box on the forum, is the Manage Attachments button.