Safari and Firefox Crashing and Security
I was running Safari 2.X.X (I think it was 2.0.4 and Tiger 10.4.X) when Safari started crashing. The crashing was every 10 minutes or so, but eventually Safari crashed almost instantly when opening, even if all I did was open Safari from my Dock.
I tried using Firefox, but that too, started crashing almost instantly, after being opened.
I restarted my PowerBook (G4, 1.33) and the problem still remained. I then updated OS X Tiger to 10.4.11 which also upgraded Safari to 3.0.4. After the update, Safari crashed once or twice, but then has been stable for "a while now." However, Firefox still crashes like mad (Edit: Firefox has now remained open and not crashed for a few minutes now).
Is there anyway a virus/spyware/malware caused this crashing? A search of the Internet seemed to indicate things like corrupt preferences or issues with Input Managers. However, I'd like a little more reassuring, as well as suggestions to why Safari now seems to work ok, but Firefox still crashes.
Any suggestions or comments?
P.S. I can't go to the Thinksecret.com website (Forbidden 403). That isn't related to my crashing, is it?
I tried using Firefox, but that too, started crashing almost instantly, after being opened.
I restarted my PowerBook (G4, 1.33) and the problem still remained. I then updated OS X Tiger to 10.4.11 which also upgraded Safari to 3.0.4. After the update, Safari crashed once or twice, but then has been stable for "a while now." However, Firefox still crashes like mad (Edit: Firefox has now remained open and not crashed for a few minutes now).
Is there anyway a virus/spyware/malware caused this crashing? A search of the Internet seemed to indicate things like corrupt preferences or issues with Input Managers. However, I'd like a little more reassuring, as well as suggestions to why Safari now seems to work ok, but Firefox still crashes.
Any suggestions or comments?
P.S. I can't go to the Thinksecret.com website (Forbidden 403). That isn't related to my crashing, is it?
Comments
I was running Safari 2.X.X (I think it was 2.0.4 and Tiger 10.4.X) when Safari started crashing. The crashing was every 10 minutes or so, but eventually Safari crashed almost instantly when opening, even if all I did was open Safari from my Dock.
I tried using Firefox, but that too, started crashing almost instantly, after being opened.
I restarted my PowerBook (G4, 1.33) and the problem still remained. I then updated OS X Tiger to 10.4.11 which also upgraded Safari to 3.0.4. After the update, Safari crashed once or twice, but then has been stable for "a while now." However, Firefox still crashes like mad (Edit: Firefox has now remained open and not crashed for a few minutes now).
Is there anyway a virus/spyware/malware caused this crashing? A search of the Internet seemed to indicate things like corrupt preferences or issues with Input Managers. However, I'd like a little more reassuring, as well as suggestions to why Safari now seems to work ok, but Firefox still crashes.
Any suggestions or comments?
P.S. I can't go to the Thinksecret.com website (Forbidden 403). That isn't related to my crashing, is it?
To start off with a couple of blanket solutions, try emptying your caches:
Library->Cache (just drag it to the trash)
System->Library->Cache
and while you're at it... download a new Firefox binary and trash your old version to see if that helps any.
You can't go to ThinkSecret because it is no more as part of Nick's legal settlement with Apple. See this thread at AN for the story.
I figured thinksecret was down due to legal action, but it had been up for a while since the article came out, so I wasn't sure if it was me or everyone else.
I scanned for some "DNS changer" trojan thingy, and it came up with nothing. I updated my ClamXav definitions and scanned my entire HD and it only found some phishing e-mail that's like 2 years old (the scan took over 900 minutes).
Firefox is also stable now, in addition to Safari.