One criticism of Mozilla Firefox for Mac has been that flash videos played through the browser can temporarily consume 100% of your CPU causing your Mac to momentarily freeze. Mozilla Firefox was the first browser to introduce a private browsing feature which allows you to use the internet more anonymously and securely.
![]()
I previously about new versions of Google Chrome actually working fine in Mavericks even though they claim they won't. I've now discovered that it's even more convoluted than I thought (and also, for the moment at least, more convenient).MacInTouch is today reporting that Google Chrome has another 'critical' security update, to version 66.0.3359.170, just two weeks after the last one. As before, despite my having 'auto updates' turned on in Chrome, it reports that it didn't, and can't, update at all any more, because my Mac OS is too old. However, someone in a Mavericks-specific forum on another website said that 66.0.3359.170 actually does work, so as before, I went to to get the downloader - only to discover that they're already offering a still newer version, 66.0.3359.181.
So I downloaded that - but it turned out, while fiddling around with this stuff, that I didn't even need the installer!It turns out that not only is Google being. Ah (let's be polite here) a touch inaccurate about their new versions not working in Mavericks (OK, to be fair, they're only saying they're 'unsupported' and 'can't be upgraded', not that they 'won't work'). But they're also not telling the truth about my auto-update setting no longer working, and aren't even accurately reporting what version I'm running!Internally, Chrome was reporting that it's at the old version. But the Finder, in both the Versions column and in the Get Info dialog box, was reporting that I'm already running the newest version (66.0.3359.181) without having run the installer or having done anything at all!So, if you're running an older Mac OS, don't take Chrome's statement that auto-update isn't working too literally - it may actually be working. And don't take the program's internal statement about what version it's at too literally either. You have to simply quit and relaunch Chrome to find out whether auto-update is actually working, and what version it's actually at. I previously about new versions of Google Chrome actually working fine in Mavericks even though they claim they won't.
I've now discovered that it's even more convoluted than I thought (and also, for the moment at least, more convenient).MacInTouch is today reporting that Google Chrome has another 'critical' security update, to version 66.0.3359.170, just two weeks after the last one. As before, despite my having 'auto updates' turned on in Chrome, it reports that it didn't, and can't, update at all any more, because my Mac OS is too old. However, someone in a Mavericks-specific forum on another website said that 66.0.3359.170 actually does work, so as before, I went to to get the downloader - only to discover that they're already offering a still newer version, 66.0.3359.181. So I downloaded that - but it turned out, while fiddling around with this stuff, that I didn't even need the installer!It turns out that not only is Google being. Ah (let's be polite here) a touch inaccurate about their new versions not working in Mavericks (OK, to be fair, they're only saying they're 'unsupported' and 'can't be upgraded', not that they 'won't work'). But they're also not telling the truth about my auto-update setting no longer working, and aren't even accurately reporting what version I'm running!Internally, Chrome was reporting that it's at the old version.
But the Finder, in both the Versions column and in the Get Info dialog box, was reporting that I'm already running the newest version (66.0.3359.181) without having run the installer or having done anything at all!So, if you're running an older Mac OS, don't take Chrome's statement that auto-update isn't working too literally - it may actually be working. And don't take the program's internal statement about what version it's at too literally either. You have to simply quit and relaunch Chrome to find out whether auto-update is actually working, and what version it's actually at. Jonas, thank you for this additional information about Chrome. And you are correct that Google is being a bit obscure about the updates.I had downloaded the version mentioned in your earlier post (66.0.3359.139) but upon checking my current version it shows 66.0.3359.181 and I had not manually updated Chrome.I am running Mavericks (OS X 10.9.5) and get the warning about the OS not being supported and will not get the updates. But I have gotten the updates.
So who knows what (or who) to believe. Portable Chromium also works - albeit with some minor problems - in Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). It's quicker than v. Biggest problem is being unable to access extensions (e.g., ad blockers). Every time that's attempted, there's a message displayed that says the 'extensions store' (or whatever it calls it) is unavailable.Some pages also display larger than in other browsers, cutting off access to the 'Log In' button. Two WX sites that display fine in Firefox do not show cloud cover or other visual WX data, making them pretty much useless for their intended purpose. On the positive side, I like the quick response time compared to other Snow Leopard-compatible browsers.
If I could get under the hood to fix some of the problems, it'd be an even better browser. As it is, I can live with the shortcomings and use Firefox or Citrio for the WX sites.
Like an idiot, I used Google's autoupdate to update to the latest Version 67.0.3396.62 (Official Build) (64-bit). I now have multiple 'Google Chrome Helpers' using 100% or more of CPU (Activity Monitor.)I've submitted feedback to Google through the Help/Report an issue. Menu option, but my MacBook Pro 2012 10.12.6 is slowly baking my legs when I use it on my lap (went from normal 40°C to 70°C, all in one autoupdate.)I think I know the answer to this question, is there any way to revert to the previous version of Chrome?P.S. I'll now download each installer, as I previously did a year or so ago. Like an idiot, I used Google's autoupdate to update to the latest Version 67.0.3396.62 (Official Build) (64-bit). I now have multiple 'Google Chrome Helpers' using 100% or more of CPU (Activity Monitor.)I've submitted feedback to Google through the Help/Report an issue. Menu option, but my MacBook Pro 2012 10.12.6 is slowly baking my legs when I use it on my lap (went from normal 40°C to 70°C, all in one autoupdate.) I think I know the answer to this question, is there any way to revert to the previous version of Chrome?P.S.
I'll now download each installer, as I previously did a year or so ago. I ran into this very same problem. After several attempts to remove the offending code (prefs files, etc.), I wound up doing the 'full monty'. I removed Chrome using AppCleaner, which pulls the associated files with the application.But, before doing that, I did several preparatory processes. First, I exported all bookmarks to a file, so I wouldn't have to recreate them manually. Then I also noted all of the extensions that I had installed (about 8 or 9, so not a big list).
I also made sure I had a full backup (bootable), if need be.After trashing Chrome and emptying the trash, I also rebooted, just to clear any remaining cache. Then I re-installed the version I had previously downloaded (66.0.3359.139), but did nothing to prevent it from upgrading (it has now done so, to V. 67.0.3396.62), but the noted pop-ups have not returned.
If they do, I will do the same process, but eliminate the auto-updates.I should note that this is on a Macbook Pro Retina running Mavericks (10.9.5), so your milage may vary. I ran into this very same problem. After several attempts to remove the offending code (prefs files, etc.), I wound up doing the 'full monty'.
I removed Chrome using AppCleaner, which pulls the associated files with the application.But, before doing that, I did several preparatory processes. First, I exported all bookmarks to a file, so I wouldn't have to recreate them manually. Then I also noted all of the extensions that I had installed (about 8 or 9, so not a big list). I also made sure I had a full backup (bootable), if need be.After trashing Chrome and emptying the trash, I also rebooted, just to clear any remaining cache.
Then I re-installed the version I had previously downloaded (66.0.3359.139), but did nothing to prevent it from upgrading (it has now done so, to V. 67.0.3396.62), but the noted pop-ups have not returned. If they do, I will do the same process, but eliminate the auto-updates.I should note that this is on a Macbook Pro Retina running Mavericks (10.9.5), so your milage may vary. Bruce,You did not need to jump through all those preparatory hoops, assuming you had created and signed into your Google Chrome account - this is sort of similar to iCloud. Chrome accounts retain your bookmarks, autofill information, passwords, browsing history, extensions, and probably other things I cannot remember. The value of having a Chrome account (which is free) is that you can use any computer with Chrome to log into your account and then you will have those personal features available on that computer.
Obviously, you should sign out of that Chrome account upon finishing use of a borrowed or public computer.Chrome account sign-up / sign-in / management is located in the extreme upper-right of virtually any Chrome window, as well as being the first item in Chrome's Preferences. I'm also getting stalls and rather silly pop-ups telling me my internet is too slow from YouTube when using Safari, yet other sites work as quickly as ever, and other browsers work just fine with YouTube. I don't know whether this is Apple continuing to believe their browser's interpretation of html5 is the one true way (at the expense of their users' convenience) or whether it is just another example of Apple's quality control.
I had gone back to Safari as my default since I found the Favicon Bar extension, but I'm now about ready to jump ship back to Firefox. I'm also getting stalls and rather silly pop-ups telling me my internet is too slow from YouTube when using Safari, yet other sites work as quickly as ever, and other browsers work just fine with YouTube. I don't know whether this is Apple continuing to believe their browser's interpretation of html5 is the one true way (at the expense of their users' convenience) or whether it is just another example of Apple's quality control. I had gone back to Safari as my default since I found the Favicon Bar extension, but I'm now about ready to jump ship back to Firefox.
As a counterpoint I've not had issues with Amazon Prime or Netflix (can't vouch for YouTube, as I don't use it) running Safari 11.1.2 on the latest High Sierra. Both worked fine on my old Mac Mini, and both seem to be running perfectly smooth on my new iMac. I don't have many extensions, just 1Password, 1Blocker, and uBlock Origin.The conspiracy nut in me would say that YouTube doesn't work well on Safari because they want you running Chrome!
But lots of people say it works perfectly fine in Firefox, so, hey, so much for a good conspiracy. I have an equal but opposite problem to some video services not playing well with some browsers. I try to use the latest Firefox (v.
61 Quantumized) for my main web choice. It does Amazon, Hulu, Vimeo, and most embedded video just fine, But quite often it will balk at YouTube.
Most of the time that is because Google and/or their clients do not approve of me blocking their analytics and snoops with AdBlockPlus and Ghostery which are S.O.P. For me a a zillion other web users.
So I have to whitelist a particular site and refresh, then (maybe) YouTubeooogle will release the video unto my screen. Other times nothing will work.Anecdotally it appears to me that Googleized YouTubes will play in Firefox if they are not encumbered by advertising and analytic trackers at the request of the content provider. Vids that are being monetized or otherwise snooped seem to be the culprits for not playing well, and that policy from Google seems to be the determinator.So I load into the latest Safari - which also has the very same AdBlock Plus and Ghostery extensions (!) - and the YouTubes play just fine, even the live-streamed webcasts of things like SpaceX launches. Firefox will not satisfactorily play any YouTube live stream for me. Buffering or balking.
Safari works; Firefox does not, with parity of add-ons between them. I've filed it as a bug report with Mozilla. (I run El Capitan on two 2010 Mac Minis.
Same video behavior on both Macs.)Perhaps down in the bowels of Firefox's code, Mozilla has a setting under the ubiquitous 'about:' configurator that will remedy all this, but I'm not geek enough or patient enough to drill down.My judgment is if either Safari or Firefox won't play a particular video, usually the other browser will. I sometimes even jump to the open-source Chromium version of Google's Chrome, but I refuse to use Google's own version of Chrome because of the imperious tracking they employ. Chromium is the same browser with all the Google tracking stripped out.Paradoxically, the very viewers the content providers are trying to reach are being chastened by skewing the privileges of viewership, in my opinion, not necessarily the limitations of the browsers themselves. Maybe more than one. I'm using Safari 11.1.2 on macOS 10.13.6 with all extensions off, and find that some embedded charts and photos will not print.
The results seen with and without Reader View vary also. An example can be found on the NYTimes today in 'Pope declares death penalty unacceptable.' With Reader View turned off in Safari preferences, I click the article on the front page and see a photo of the pope followed by text and a map of the US with each state labelled. When I try to print the article, there is no photo of the pope, but the map is there with states labelled. Then, I click the 4 bars in the URL address window to turn on Reader View, and I see the pope's photo but a map without labels. This exact view can be printed. Same results if I switch Reader View on/off in prefs.Turning Safari off and on doesn't help.
Nor does rebooting the machine (iMac, 27', 2017). I have seen this behavior on other sites recently, but some articles are viewed with no trouble at all.
![]()
Printing to a pdf sees these glitches, too. So much for WYSIWYG-something pioneered by Apple!
I use 'AdBlock Plus' for my Safari ad blocker on the latest version of Safari. Sometimes I get redirected to a web site that has a firewall for content blockers, so I use the 'click and hold on the reload web page' feature of the address bar on Safari and select ' Reload Page without Content Blockers'. I am expecting the (usually news) web site to reload and allow me to read its content, but I continue to get the blocking page because, it says, I have a content blocker installed. If I really want to read the article, I will go to Safari preferences and disable the blocker extension, and then things work OK.My question is, what is the intention of this feature in Safari if it doesn't allow the web pages to reload with the blocking alert?
Is this a problem with the type of ad blocker I use or the way a web searches for blockers (meaning if they are installed but not invoked), you still get the blocking page?Just wondering if anyone in the MacInTouch community is successful using this Safari feature without the issues I am having.Thanks in advance. I use 'AdBlock Plus' for my Safari ad blocker on the latest version of Safari. Sometimes I get redirected to a web site that has a firewall for content blockers, so I use the 'click and hold on the reload web page' feature of the address bar on Safari and select ' Reload Page without Content Blockers'. I am expecting the (usually news) web site to reload and allow me to read its content, but I continue to get the blocking page because, it says, I have a content blocker installed.
If I really want to read the article, I will go to Safari preferences and disable the blocker extension, and then things work OK.My question is, what is the intention of this feature in Safari if it doesn't allow the web pages to reload with the blocking alert? Is this a problem with the type of ad blocker I use or the way a web searches for blockers (meaning if they are installed but not invoked), you still get the blocking page?Just wondering if anyone in the MacInTouch community is successful using this Safari feature without the issues I am having.Thanks in advance. I assumed this feature applied only to Safari's WebKit built-in content blocker, not to Safari Extension ad blockers. What I'm referring to is detailed here:I confess I don't fully understand what's detailed on this site, but I remember reading about this 'new' Safari 'feature' on a third-party website when Safari 11 was being introduced. Unfortunately, I don't remember what article that was now, so I can't provide that reference.I'm hoping others who can understand the linked web page above more than I can will provide a more detailed explanation for you. But to answer your question about my experiences on such ad-protective websites, I've found I also have to turn off not only Safari's built-in content protection but also any ad-blocking extensions in order to stop the web site from complaining.
Sometimes I have to pause Ghostery as well. I assumed this feature applied only to Safari's WebKit built-in content blocker, not to Safari Extension ad blockers.
What I'm referring to is detailed here:I confess I don't fully understand what's detailed on this site, but I remember reading about this 'new' Safari 'feature' on a third-party website when Safari 11 was being introduced. Unfortunately, I don't remember what article that was now, so I can't provide that reference.I'm hoping others who can understand the linked web page above more than I can will provide a more detailed explanation for you. But to answer your question about my experiences on such ad-protective websites, I've found I also have to turn off not only Safari's built-in content protection but also any ad-blocking extensions in order to stop the web site from complaining. Sometimes I have to pause Ghostery as well. That could explain my experiences with some sites, running the latest Sierra version of Safari 11.1.2 (12605.3.8.1). I went so far as to uncheck all of the extensions in the Extensions pane of Safari preferences, then deleted the Safari cache, then restarted Safari.
I didn't uninstall all the extensions, just unchecked them making them all inactive. Yet the web site still refused to show me its content saying I had ad-blocking software engaged.In fairness, however, I then attempted to load the same web site using Firefox 61.0.2 in 'Safe Mode' and the site still complained. At that point I decided it was the site that was defective, and gave up on any further attempts. Safari 12.0 has just come to me via the App Store and 'no longer supports unsafe extensions'. It seems to have done away with Disconnect and has switched off uBlock Origin, claiming it will slow down browsing.
UBO can, however, be switched back on. Disconnect cannot.I'm fond of uBO, as it also does away with YouTube ads, as did AdBlockPlus.
Neither can be found searching for Safari extensions in the App Store. So perhaps it's time to revisit the perennial question, 'What's the best ad blocker this week?' As others have mentioned, Safari 12 now disables/blocks many older extensions. While not unexpected, I'm sad to confirm that my favorite extension, is blocked in Safari 12, cannot be unblocked, and the developer has decided to retire it.
If anyone knows of a similar Safari session manager that will work with Safari 12, I'd love to hear about it. Other than that, I haven't seen any obvious problems with Safari 12, it does add a couple of reasonable security features, and it seems to be fairly zippy. I have also just installed Safari 12.0 via the App Store and, like Christopher, have discovered that it 'no longer supports unsafe extensions'. Looking at the handful of extensions now available in the App Store, I notice that AdBlockPlus and other favourites are no longer available, and to no surprise (considering Apple's push to monetise everything), the rated alternatives seem to require payment.
I generally use Firefox anyway, but does anybody have a recommendation for the best ad-blocking and anti-tracking extensions from what is now available for Safari? Now the good news and the bad. The good news is that your old extension is loaded and functional.
The bad is that it will not survive quitting and restarting Safari, so a quick trip to the Develop menu (and not trashing the folder oldextension.safariextension) will keep it going when needed. As long as you leave that folder untouched, each time you open the Extension Builder window it will default to it, and just one click on the 'Run' button is all that is needed.All of this will become moot in December when the Extensions Gallery dies and no extensions in the old format will be permitted, wherever they come from. But the Sessions user above can still use it till then.
![]() Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
March 2023
Categories |