# Safari CPU Bursts Slow Down Computer - Any Solutions?



## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

Recently (last 3 months or so), Safari has developed a habit of bringing my entire computer to a screeching halt at regular intervals. Safari stops working for 30 seconds or more as the beach ball spins and, sometimes, the whole system fails to work during these slow downs. It's like temporary dementia.

I've look in the activity monitor and I notice that my CPU usage balloons during these mini collapses to more than 100% - sometimes as high as 160%. I switched to Firefox and it began to do the same thing. It doesn't seem to matter how many tabs I have open or what I'm actually doing at the time - I'm not streaming or receiving any data, just surfing.

I was initially concerned about a virus or trojan sucking out data at regular intervals. I wouldn't know how to track down nasties like this even if I did have one. I've run Onyx, repaired the disk, run software updates, restarts, etc. and the problem doesn't go away. Does anyone have any suggestions what might be causing this series of regular mini heart attacks for my computer? It's frustrating when every 20 seconds the beach ball freezes my iMac for 30-45 seconds at a time - and it seems to be because of a sudden and inexplicable surge in CPU use.

Thanks


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I had problems like this and went through all of the steps you did. In my case it was a RAM problem, or more specifically the RAM riser ray in my MacPro that was preventing the machine from using the available RAM properly.

I don't know your machine or its configuration, but try to eliminate bad RAM as a problem.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Some suggestions and Safari Help has more:

- Choose Safari > Empty Cache, and then click Empty.
- Choose History > Clear History, and then click Clear.
To clear Top Sites as well as your history list, select “Also reset Top Sites.” The Top Sites page is based on your browsing history.

- For more, use at least the top three in the 'Reset Safari' options.

If you want to get fussier, shut down, wait 20 seconds and boot up in 'Safe Boot Mode', run DU and run it's Repair Permissions and Verify Disk.

Then restart normally.

Or, while booted in Safe Boot Mode, try Safari for any beachballing etc. as you may have some third party extension goofing things up when booted normally.


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## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestions - I hadn't thought of this being a RAM issue. I did open up a previous iMac and replace RAM five years ago but am not keen to play around with the guts of this machine because if I lose data or break something, I'd be stuck for work.

I'll try everything on your lists.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Is the problem happening only when running Safari?

How many Safari extensions do you have installed and have you tried disabling all of them and see if there's any improvement???

And no, you don't have any virus or trojan!!

You could try setting up a new "TestUser", log out and log into the TestUser account and again check how Safari is performing.

PS: RAM is easily accessed in all modern iMacs from the bottom of the display screen and behind the perforated removable cover. No need for any iMac disassembly!! 

How much RAM do you have installed and what OS X version are you running? And/or, what iMac model??


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

pm-r said:


> Is the problem happening only when running Safari?
> 
> How many Safari extensions do you have installed and have you tried disabling all of them and see if there's any improvement???
> 
> ...


you obviously haven't taken apart a 2012 21.5" yet...


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

broad said:


> you obviously haven't taken apart a 2012 21.5" yet...


Obviously. If it was that new I would assume the user would have just contacted their Apple Dealer/Service Center. Nor did I see anywhere where the OP said it was the most recent or even the 21" model.

Did you not have something constructive to suggest for the problem?


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## MX-V (Feb 2, 2010)

I would check the system log in Console.app. See if there's any error messages.

I had a similar problem on my iMac G5 and it turned out to be a corrupted partition.


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## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

It's a 24" 2012 model, bought a year ago. It's one of those difficult things to explain to a tech because it will be intermittent. I'll type for hours and then suddenly everything seizes up. Simple commands - typing a sentence in Word - take ages as the system continually freezes for 20 seconds without any indication why.

I've just installed Sophos anti virus in case something nasty has crept into my system.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

thats probably going to make that issue worse lol.

try this..make a new test administrator account and use it for a few hours. see if the issue persists there. report back later or tomorrow or something. 

ps-make sure you're backed up too, eh?


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

This is my *daily* experience with Safari, sadly. I'm using a stock late-2011 MacBook Pro 13" with 4 gigs of RAM. As soon as $$$ permits, I'm shoving more RAM in there - and hope that solves the problem.

My usage may be a bit more intense than others, though - I regularly have 30 tabs open simultaneously. But even when my system is showing over a gig of RAM available, I get these ridiculous system-wide slowdowns...

Until I find the money for an upgrade, I'm also looking at other potential issues. Considering doing a full OS reinstall just to cover that base...


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Deep Blue said:


> It's a 24" 2012 model, bought a year ago. It's one of those difficult things to explain to a tech because it will be intermittent. I'll type for hours and then suddenly everything seizes up. Simple commands - typing a sentence in Word - take ages as the system continually freezes for 20 seconds without any indication why.
> 
> I've just installed Sophos anti virus in case something nasty has crept into my system.



I must agree with broad's comment - "thats probably going to make that issue worse lol."

I just tried installing Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition v. 9.0.1 today with an attempt to help out a friend who was having some associated problems with it, and my iMac at times just almost stalled, and oftentimes just became so sloooow.

I had disabled ClamXav during the interim, but I can tell you, even though some recent sites recommend Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition, it's going to software heaven and I'll go back to using ClamXav thanks.

At least ClamXav has a "watch folder" and uses very few CPU resources, which Sophos doesn't and can't without a LOT of fiddling maybe.

And Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition is so slow on my late 2011 w/ 20GB RAM iMac it's pathetic.

So bottom line, Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition sure ain't goona help fix your Mac's problem IMHO!!


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

CubaMark said:


> This is my *daily* experience with Safari, sadly. I'm using a stock late-2011 MacBook Pro 13" with 4 gigs of RAM. As soon as $$$ permits, I'm shoving more RAM in there - and hope that solves the problem.
> 
> My usage may be a bit more intense than others, though - I regularly have 30 tabs open simultaneously. But even when my system is showing over a gig of RAM available, I get these ridiculous system-wide slowdowns...
> 
> Until I find the money for an upgrade, I'm also looking at other potential issues. Considering doing a full OS reinstall just to cover that base...



I don't know, but I would think that having 30 tabs open simultaneously and even with 4 gigs of RAM, you may be pushing things, and I don't know what else you may have running.

Give CanadaRAM.com a call and see if they still have the special Patriot RAM price that may work with your MBPro - about $90± as I recall for 2 x 8GB DDR3 1333 MHz modules I got for my late 2011 27" iMac.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

What's the old saying...Cache is king
Safari is a pain for cleaning out the cache, I know it has a Develop menu,
But that empty cache menu item never seems to work for me.
I use CleanMyMac to clean out all the caches in my system and in Safari once a week.
That works for me.


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## eMacMan (Nov 27, 2006)

Deep Blue said:


> It's a 24" 2012 model, bought a year ago. It's one of those difficult things to explain to a tech because it will be intermittent. I'll type for hours and then suddenly everything seizes up. Simple commands - typing a sentence in Word - take ages as the system continually freezes for 20 seconds without any indication why.
> 
> I've just installed Sophos anti virus in case something nasty has crept into my system.





broad said:


> thats probably going to make that issue worse lol.
> 
> try this..make a new test administrator account and use it for a few hours. see if the issue persists there. report back later or tomorrow or something.
> 
> ps-make sure you're backed up too, eh?


Wow it's finally happened. A completely above board, topic related and useful post from broad.

Congratulations man and welcome to the useful side of ehMac.:clap::clap::clap:


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

Lawrence said:


> What's the old saying...Cache is king
> Safari is a pain for cleaning out the cache, I know it has a Develop menu,
> But that empty cache menu item never seems to work for me.
> I use CleanMyMac to clean out all the caches in my system and in Safari once a week.
> That works for me.


I use OnyX to do this and have for years. Run it whenever I get the spinning beach ball in Safari and it is good for months again.


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## John Griffin (Jan 4, 2002)

Something else:

When you get these system slowdowns, it is probably wise to launch Activity Monitor and check to see if one or more processes are hogging the CPU. If something is using more than 80% of CPU it is an indication that item is the culprit (especially if it doesn't release its grip on the CPU quickly). You could then select it and force quit the process in Activity Monitor. Temporarily at least, the machine should be back up to speed.

I find that Lion Cache Cleaner occasionally does this to my iMac, but I have never found Safari to do it.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

I have a very quick fix for you... stop using Safari. Problem solved.

Safari is pretty much the most bloated hunk of poo that Apple has ever produced. I never use it on Mac OS. 

Firefox, Omniweb and Roccat are all much more efficient.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

SINC said:


> I use OnyX to do this and have for years. Run it whenever I get the spinning beach ball in Safari and it is good for months again.


Is your goal to have lost contact with good taste and proper personal standards? That is what you're saying by using Onyx. It's just a pointy clicky interface for things that are all available in the terminal, and it can easily corrupt things because it doesn't always work perfectly. 

Learn a command or two and you wouldn't need it at all.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I'm fine using OnyX, thanks anyway.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Oh jeez. He's back. Here we go again....


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

CubaMark said:


> Oh jeez. He's back. Here we go again....



Just Keep Calm and Carry On.

And maybe have a nice relaxing drink.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

SINC said:


> I want to stay a pointy clicky slave, and have no real computing skill.


Fixed that for you.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

zen.state said:


> Fixed that for you.


Where do you get off changing a direct quote from me? Edit it now please. I responded to your rather odd comment in a nice manner and would expect a similar response.


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## CubaMark (Feb 16, 2001)

Shall I pour a glass for you as well, Don? Looks like we're both going to need one to deal with this "fellow".


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

SINC said:


> Where do you get off changing a direct quote from me? Edit it now please. I responded to your rather odd comment in a nice manner and would expect a similar response.



I wondered what was going on, and it sounds pretty close to need reporting to me.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

zen.state said:



> Originally Posted by SINC
> I want to stay a pointy clicky slave, and have no real computing skill.





zen.state said:


> Fixed that for you.


You are just asking for a world of hurt.

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

CubaMark said:


> Shall I pour a glass for you as well, Don? Looks like we're both going to need one to deal with this "fellow".


Make it a stiff one Mark please.


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

I simply put the unfiltered version of what SINC obviously means. If he wasn't so eager to show how devolved his ability is, there would be nothing to take the filter off of.

If you think moving a pointing device around is a skill, then you're completely out of touch with what computers truly are. BSD is the base of Mac OS, and only about 60% of it's capability is found in it's GUI. Everything else is accessed via the command line.

Any app or OS GUI can only do what it has buttons, check boxes, and menu options for. Everything else requires UNIX commands.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

I meant no such thing. Using any program to easily access the desired result has always been an acceptable part of computing. Advising people to get into terminal commands can cause a world of trouble for the untrained and is poor advice for anyone but advanced users.


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## groovetube (Jan 2, 2003)

Lawrence said:


> zen.state said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


reporting? Good luck with that... :lmao:

I guess after someone goes around name calling and being hostile to others, is finding out the new 'rules' is a two way street.

Suddenly they're the victim :baby:


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

groovetube said:


> reporting? Good luck with that... :lmao:
> 
> I guess after someone goes around name calling and being hostile to others, is finding out the new 'rules' is a two way street.
> 
> Suddenly they're the victim :baby:


Doesn't bother me what people do or say on this board.
Just thought I'd add my 2¢ worth


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## groovetube (Jan 2, 2003)

Lawrence said:


> Doesn't bother me what people do or say on this board.
> Just thought I'd add my 2¢ worth


5 cents. No pennies now


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

groovetube said:


> I guess after someone goes around name calling and being hostile to others, is finding out the new 'rules' is a two way street.
> 
> Suddenly they're the victim :baby:


In the spirit of the Play Nice Together thread, there was no need to post that remark, was there? Oh, nice derail BTW.

Some days it's hard to tell the difference from a post.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

SINC said:


> In the spirit of the Play Nice Together thread, there was no need to post that remark, was there? Oh, nice derail BTW.
> 
> Some days it's hard to tell the difference from a post.



Yup, and just to add and no offence to Mark Dr.G.'s doxies and my apologies for not getting them in order properly as I'm not good using Terminal or Shell commands:

Or then there's this:



Or to expose it all this:


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## zen.state (Nov 29, 2005)

@pm-r

Are you on some mission to constantly prove what a senseless goofball you are? 

You may want to reconsider your approach, unless you like looking pathetic. You have the humour of a 90 year old woman that has 20 cats.


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

WOW!! You mean to say you know of some 90 year old woman that has 20 cats with an odd sense of humour? Amazing, but maybe they got that way from being told they had to use Terminal/Shell commands years ago.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.





.


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

24"???


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Joker Eh said:


> 24"???


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

^










Ba da bing! :lmao:


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

Gee, I don't seem to be able to view some apparently recently added attachments etc. here using Terminal, what should or can I do for a solution???


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## groovetube (Jan 2, 2003)

pm-r said:


> Gee, I don't seem to be able to view some apparently recently added attachments etc. here using Terminal, what should or can I do for a solution???


recompile your kernel, or you're not a man!


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## pm-r (May 17, 2009)

My OS X says that my kernel is just fine thanks, but maybe I should be adding some bran or something.

But that would seem to be surplus for all the extra bulk I find some applications and stuff adding to my iMac.


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## groovetube (Jan 2, 2003)

pm-r said:


> My OS X says that my kernel is just fine thanks, but maybe I should be adding some bran or something.
> 
> But that would seem to be surplus for all the extra bulk I find some applications and stuff adding to my iMac.


well your first mistake is that you're using a toy for a computer. Using terminal isn't even going to be the equivalent of a 1000 geek hail marys.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

zen.state said:


> @pm-r
> 
> Are you on some mission to constantly prove what a senseless goofball you are?
> 
> You may want to reconsider your approach, unless you like looking pathetic. You have the humour of a 90 year old woman that has 20 cats.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Oh sh¿t...It's a movie




+
YouTube Video









ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.


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