Speeding up Safari.

[Elwood P Dowd]

One of the few complaints I had about the refurb MacBook I purchased last month was Safari hanging for 5-10 seconds on certain sites. I mentioned this to a friend, and he gave me a link to Google Public DNS. I made the recommended changes to the DNS numbers, and now the problem is totally gone. The instructions refer to Leopard, but it worked for me on Snow Leopard 10.6.4, and Safari 5.0.1 now opens everything fast as hell.

http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html

Example: Changing DNS server settings on Mac OS 10.5
1. From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network. 
2. If the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window is locked, click the icon to make changes, and when prompted to authenticate, enter your password.
3. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
◦ To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced.
◦ To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
4. Select the DNS tab.
5. Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
6. Click Apply and OK.
7. Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
8. Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.

[alfredo]

1. Flash is the only thing that really causes me trouble.

[gmoney]

9. Try uninstall and reinstall

buried in the Apple support forums is a suggestion that when you upgrade to Safari 5.0.1, you download the Flash UNinstaller, run that, then download and install the newest version of Flash.

Nice one, Apple. :/

[Ezlivin]

2. I highly recommend Namebench

http://code.google.com/p/namebench/

It is an application you can run that selects the best DNS.

[cbayer]

3. Thanks for this. I downloaded and ran the program.

It gave me a DNS server that it said was 38% faster than the one I was using. Do I just enter the 3 addresses it gave me in my network preferences DNS list or is there somewhere else they go. The three addresses they gave me are labeled different (primary, secondary, etc.

Thanks in advance

[Ezlivin]

4. Enter them in your Network preferences separated by a comma

They should go into the field in order of primary, secondary and tertiary.

I run Namebench about every week or so and I find that the fastest DNS changes, so I simply update my Preferences and away I go!

[cbayer]

5. It won't let me separate by commas, so I just put them one after another (3 separate lines)

There is one at the top that I can't change. Is that my router?

Thanks so much for your help here. I have had significant issues with speed because I am in an isolated area, and I am willing to try anything!

[struggle4progress]

6. Thanks for posting this. I had some trouble with the downloads

for some reason but eventually got it

[No Passaran]

7. Thanks for the suggestion.

[clixtox]

8. The link has improved my access here in Vietnam...

weaving around the attempts to block some sites makes this program ideal!

Thank you, Elwood.