Curious Issue re: Browser

Hey All,
I've had a somewhat curious issue for the last little while. Since installing the most recent versions of Safari (5.0) and Firefox (not sure which), web browsing on my unibody aluminum macbook (std model, late 08) has been terrible, on both browsers.
So slow, tons of pages hang up while loading, many need to be refreshed before they load fully. Now, I am not the most tech savvy individual, but I tried some tricks I searched out but to no avail. I actually was beginning to think there was something seriously wrong with my Mac.
Then I installed Chrome, and it was immediately fast, responsive and bug free. I'm actually really surprised. Anyone had a similar experience?

 

Well, what you were describing sounded a lot like high packet loss from your ISP, but then you threw the Chrome curveball working ok. So I dunno???

Could still be worth a call to your ISP's tech support when the issue seems bad in Safari or FF. They should be able to test your line remotely in only a few short minutes.

Another easy DIY is to go to Speedtest.net when it seems to be slow and see if your upload/download speeds are ok. I can't really tell you what they should be b/c max theoretical speed will depend on your individual ISP.

 

well I noticed a big problem with Safari and Firefox, but it was related to the new version of Flash... older Flash worked better. Adobe's normal flash install doesn't do anything for Chrome

 

For Firefox, there is an add-on called FlashBlock. Download that and see if page loading is still slow on pages that use Flash. Did you also try uninstalling/re-installing Firefox?

Not sure if there's an equivalent add-on for Safari, but it's worth a look. Not sure if you can even uninstall/reinstall Safari for that matter.

 

I've noticed a lot of safari issues lately. Not so many firefox.

But then again I've had problems with safari for ages now. I hate that browser.