Apple touts Safari as the fastest browser out there, which may be true on iOS, but I regularly use Chrome on my Mac because Safari is just too slow. Sometimes a webpage won’t load or I won’t be able to navigate back and forth between pages or I can’t scroll without lagging.
It’s extremely frustrating considering Safari comes included with OS X and you expect it to just work. When it does, it’s a great browser, but when it doesn’t, you literally have to switch to a new browser.
In this article, I’ll mention all possible ways you can go about trying to speed up Safari on your Mac. If you have your own suggestions, feel free to let us know in the comments.
Method 1 – Cache, History, Extensions
If you’re a heavy web user and you don’t have a lot of space left on your Mac, it might be worth emptying the cache, disabling extensions and clearing up the history to ease the load on Safari. In order to do this, you first have to go to Safari and then Preferences.
Click on the Advanced tab and then check the Show Develop menu in menu bar box at the bottom of the dialog.
Exit the Preferences dialog and click on Develop in the Safari menu. Go ahead and click on Empty Caches. Once the cache is empty, click again on Develop and choose Disable Extensions.
Finally, click on Safari and instead of Preferences like we chose above, click on Clear History.
In the drop-down box, make sure to choose all history and then click the Clear History button.
Method 2 – Manually Clear Cache.DB File
The above steps should clear the cache in Safari, but if something is not working properly, it may not do so properly. In this case, you can manually do it. Open Finder, then click on Go and Go To Folder at the bottom.
Now copy and paste the following path into the text box and click Go.
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db
Finally, right-click on the Cache.db file and choose Move to Trash. Make sure Safari is closed when you are doing this step.
Method 3 – Install Latest OS X Version
I’ve noticed that quite a few people who purchase Macs simply do not update their systems to the latest version of OS X. Even though we are on El Capitan right now, I have friends running on Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and even Snow Leopard!
If you don’t update OS X, you won’t get the latest version of Safari either. This means you could be stuck several versions behind and will be missing out on all the improvements and optimizations of the newest version.
The simplest way to upgrade is to go to the App Store and click on the link for the latest version of OS X, which is usually on the right-hand side.
Method 4 – Turn Dashboard Off
If you’re still using an older Mac (2010 or earlier), you might have a graphics card issue. You can try something simple to see if it helps in Safari. I’m talking about disabling the Dashboard feature in Mission Control.
To do this, open System Preferences and then click on Mission Control. In the drop-down next to Dashboard, select Off.
This is not some surefire fix, but it has worked for some people, including myself. I have a Mid-2009 MacBook Pro and the dashboard was definitely slowing things down.
Method 5 – Change Search Settings
Another thing you can try is to change the search settings in Safari. Open Preferences in Safari and then click on the Search tab.
Try changing the search engine to Bing, restarting Safari and see if there is any difference in the speed. Change it back to Google and then check again. You can also try unchecking all the options like search engine suggestions, Safari suggestions, quick website search, preload top hit, etc. to see if that makes a difference.
Sometimes on a very slow Internet connection, all of these extra features may cause Safari to be even slower.
Method 6 – Change Network Service Order
If you have a machine that is connected to both WiFi and Ethernet, your issue could be caused by being connected to the network in two different ways. To see your connections, go to System Preferences and then click on Network.
You could try disconnecting one network source and seeing if that makes a difference or not. Switch to only the other one and test too. If you want to keep both connected, read on.
By default, one connection will get priority over the other. As you can see above, my WiFi connection was getting higher priority than the Ethernet connection. You can change this by clicking on the little settings icon (gear) at the bottom of the list box.
Click on Set Service Order and another popup will appear where you can reorder the connections by dragging and dropping.
I moved Ethernet to the top and then clicked OK. After that, make sure you click Apply to on the System Preferences dialog.
Method 7 – Delete Preferences File
This probably won’t make much of a difference, but it’s worth a shot. Go to Finder, click on Go and then Go to Folder. Type in the following path:
~/Library/Preferences
Scroll down the list till you see com.apple.Safari.plist and delete that file.
Method 8 – Use Different DNS Settings
Sometimes it may not be Safari causing the issue, but your DNS settings. By default, you’ll be using the DNS provided by your ISP, which is fine most of the time. However, using a public DNS might result in faster browsing.
My favorite is Google Public DNS, which I use on all my computers. Check out my article on the best public DNS servers you can use for free. To change the DNS server for your connection on OS X, you need to open System Preferences, click on Network, select the connection and then click on Advanced.
Go ahead and click on the little + icon and then type in the IP addresses of the new DNS servers. Using Google has sped up my browsing not only in Safari, but also other browsers.
Method 9 – Log Into Another Account
Sometimes the problem is with the user account you are currently using. It’s worth creating another user account (takes 1 min), logging into that account and then running Safari. If it’s suddenly faster, then there is a problem with your user account. You can try to fix the problem by using Disk Utility. You can go to Spotlight and type in Disk Utility to open the dialog quickly.
Click on your hard drive in the left hand pane and then click on the First Aid tab. You’ll be asked if you want to run First Aid on your hard drive, so click Run.
Method 10 – Reinstall OS X
This may sound a little extreme, but it’s kind of similar to how you have to reinstall Windows every year or so because it becomes so bloated. Unfortunately, OS X suffers from some of the same issues, especially if you have always kept upgrading to the latest version of OS X without doing a clean install.
I upgraded from Mountain Lion to Mavericks to Yosemite to El Capitan before doing a fresh install of El Capitan, which made things significantly faster. It’s definitely worth a shot because it also made every other app load a lot faster too.
Those are about all the possible solutions I could find to fix a slow Safari problem. If you have any other suggestions, feel free to let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
Mar 23, 2016 12:54 pm | Aseem Kishore | Smartphones
How to Update a Nexus Device OTA to Android N (7.0) Beta
If you have a Nexus device and love playing around with the latest versions of Android, then you might be happy to learn that you can update your device to the beta version of Android N over-the-air (OTA). The only devices you can do this for are the Nexus 6, Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C and General Mobile 4G (Android One).
With one of these devices, you don’t have to worry about unlocking the bootloader or flashing your device using a system image. All you have to do is sign for the Android Beta Program, enroll your device and you’re good to go!
I’ll walk you through the steps in this article, but remember that pre-release versions of Android are normally unstable, so don’t do this on your primary device. If you do it and regret it later, there is a way to revert back to the last stable version of Android, which I will also explain below.
Join Android Beta Program
The first step is to join the beta program and enroll your device. Visit the Android Beta Program website and login with your Google account credentials. Use the same account that you are using on your Nexus device.
You should see a list of your eligible devices towards the middle of the page. If you don’t see your device, make sure it’s not hidden in Google Play. Click on the Enroll Device button and accept the license agreement.
Install Android Beta
The device will be enrolled and you should get a message on your phone fairly quickly, indicating that an update is now available for your phone.
Tap on the notification and you’ll see a message with a link to download the latest version of Android onto your Nexus device.
The message also mentions a couple of the new features for the beta version of Android. For Android N, new features include multi-window support, direct reply for notifications and more. Once the beta has been fully downloaded, you’ll get another notification to install it.
The install process will take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, depending on your device. Once installed, you should be able to login into your device normally as long as everything went well. You might also have a bunch of app updates ready.
You can always verify that you are running a beta version of Android N by going to Settings and then tapping on About Phone all the way at the bottom.
Finally, scroll down to the bottom again and you’ll see the Android build number.
If the build number starts with NP, that means it’s a beta version of Android N. If you are having problems with the beta version of Android on your device, you can always roll back to the latest stable version.
In order to do that, just log back into the Android Beta Program website and you’ll see an Unenroll Device button.
When you click on that, you’ll get another notification on your device to download an OTA update that will wipe everything on your phone and install the latest public stable version of Android.
Overall, it’s a great program for those who have a Nexus device. If you don’t have a Nexus device, the process is far more complicated and prone to errors and failures. With the Beta Program, anyone can check out the latest version of Android with just a new taps and clicks. In a future post, I’ll talk about some of the new features in Android N. Enjoy!
Mar 23, 2016 11:03 am | Aseem Kishore | Smartphones
How to Enable Two Factor Authentication for iCloud on iOS
With the latest release of iOS, Apple has enabled a new feature called Two Factor Authentication. They previously had enabled a feature called Two-Step Verification, but that isn’t as robust or as secure as the new authentication method.
In order to use the stronger two factor authentication with your iCloud account, you first have to disable two step verification. In this article, I’ll walk you through the entire process step by step so that you can ensure only trusted people can access your account.
Once you enable two factor authentication for your iCloud account, any device trying to sign into your account will need to be approved by another trusted device. Once approved, the trusted device will also receive a code that needs to be entered onto the device signing in. What’s cool is that the trusted device will also be able to see a map of where the attempted sign in was originating from.
Disable Two Step Verification
Firstly, if you have two-step verification enabled, you will need to disable it. If you don’t have that enabled, you can skip this step. To get started, go to appleid.apple.com and sign in with the Apple ID you use for iCloud.
Once logged in, go ahead and click on the Edit button that is located to the right of the Security section.
Scroll down all the way to the bottom and you’ll see a link called Turn Off Two-Step Verification. When you click on that, you’ll be asked to confirm that you want to do that and then you’ll get another dialog where you have to pick three security questions.
Once you have picked your questions, click Continue and you’ll be asked to verify your birthday. Click Continue again and you’ll be asked to enter a rescue email address. It has to be something different than your Apple ID email address.
Finally, you’ll get a message stating that two-step verification has been turned off. At this point, you can go ahead and sign out of the website.
Enable Two Factor Authentication
Now let’s go ahead and enable two factor authentication. In order to do that, we have to go to an iPhone or iPad that is already updated with the latest version of iOS. If the device is not already logged into your iCloud account, you’ll get a new message asking if you want to enable this feature when you try to sign in.
If your device is already signed into iCloud, then tap on Settings, iCloud and then tap on your name at the very top.
On the next screen, tap on Password and Security.
Again, scroll all the way to the bottom and tap on the Set Up Two-Factor Authentication link.
The next screen will show you the two factor authentication overview, which is the first image above in this section. Tap Continue and then enter the number for the phone you want to use as a trusted device. The code and approval will have to come from the number you enter here.
Once you verify the phone number, you may or may not have to enter the answers to the security questions on your account. On one of my Apple IDs, I had to answer all three security questions, but when I setup two factor for a different Apple ID, I didn’t have to answer the security questions.
You should now see at the bottom that two factor is On. At this point, you can add another trusted phone number if you like. Now that two factor is setup, try to log into iCloud on another device and you’ll be asked to enter the verification code sent to the trusted devices.
On the trusted device, a message will appear that shows a map of where the sign in was requested and the options to Allow or Don’t Allow.
If you tap Don’t Allow, the person will not be allowed to sign into the account. If you tap Allow, you’ll then get a popup with the six-digit verification code that has to be entered on the other phone so that it can sign in.
As you can see, this is a lot more secure than just enabling two-step verification. The only downside is that it can be a little inconvenient, especially if you have several family members logging into the same iCloud account. However, once the initial setup is done and everyone is verified, it won’t come up that often.
Also, when you go to sign into iCloud.com, you’ll have to get approval before you can load anything. Previously, if you had two-step verification enabled, you were still able to login and use the Find My iPhone app, while everything else was disabled until you verified your identity.
Now with two factor, you won’t even be able to see the Find My iPhone app until you are verified using a trusted device. This is more secure, but again, less convenient. You can choose to trust the browser, so that you won’t be prompted to enter the code each time you login, but then you need to make sure you sign out, otherwise someone could just come and sit on your computer and go to iCloud.com and you’ll still be logged in.
Overall, two-factor authentication does a better job of protecting your account from unauthorized access and is a great step for those who want to ensure their digital privacy. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!
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