Why is the internet SOO slow sometimes on Mac....?

H

HeliAnimal

Registered
I'm using Firefox and both my PC and MAC. A lot of the time the MAC just hangs there loading a page for like 1-2 min. Esp. MySpace!!! It keeps asking for Flash 9 too. Any ideas why some pages are so dang slow?
 
Well, if we are talking about MySpace it could be that the page is attempting to install a virus (or moleware) and is having problems. And on the Windows system it is able to complete the task very quickly.

I, personally, have not had any of my browsers hang for that long on any page. The slowest pages I've run across were almost always do to heavy traffic to the page itself.

I've had to use Windows for browsing the internet recently and even though that system was 4 to 5 times faster than anything I own, browsing wasn't noticeably different speed wise.

:rolleyes:

Actually, it was somewhat painful as Windows is missing tons of features that I constantly use on my Mac. It was like being crippled. I really can't imagine why anyone thinks browsing in Windows is so great. Other than Windows-only sites (which are using non-standard code anyways) the internet looks bad in Windows.

Not sure what is causing your issues (as Firefox on a Mac is almost as bad as Firefox on Windows for browsing), but I doubt that it is as much of a "MAC" issue as an issue with your system.

And without knowing more about your system, it would be hard to troubleshoot any issues you maybe having that would cause a 1-2 minute delay in rendering a page.
 
I haven't had any issues with Firefox on any platform, but that's just me.

As for MySpace on the Mac, it's not just on the Mac that this happens. It also happens when I'm viewing MySpace through Firefox on Ubuntu Linux, PowerPC or x86 versions. Considering that MySpace tends to cater to the "general public," most of the code (especially from those cruddy CSS site generators on the web) is badly done. Even on Firefox on Windows I have issued viewing MySpace pages of some people, mainly because they're catering to IE users, and IE isn't the most standards-compliant browser out there.
 
OK... I found something interesting.

There is one page on Myspace (a friend) who'd page hangs like CRAZY!!! I opened Safari and went to the same page.. loaded in .3 seconds. There is a major problem with Firefox and some pages.

The main reason I wanted to use Firefox becuase you can get google toolbar with the "highlight search words" feature. I don't think you can get google toolbar for Safari =( Any other suggestions??

Thanks
 
Welcome to the wonderful world on men one upping their domains and thinking MySpace is either stealing their bandwidth, envious and trying to get kids to use their services or think MySpace is nothing but a pedophiles dream. The problem is not the Mac, it is the ISP's (the one YOU are using) DNS server problem. You as the user do not have to put up with this so you could use another DNS server other than your ISP. One that is getting a lot of praise is OpenDNS. It is cross platform and here is the OS X instructions.
 
MySpace servers always get slow during the evenings no matter what browser or OS you're using. Couple that with the worst HTML and CSS known to man and embedded videos or songs make it one of the worst sites you can browse.
 
The problem is with Firefox 1.5. Do yourself a favor and get Firefox 2 as it is much faster than Firefox 1.5 on the Mac. If you continue to have problems and you still want to use the Firefox engine, use Camino instead.
 
I have the same problem. I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.1 and Myspace just hangs. Not only that, but when I attempt to go to another site in another tab while myspace loads - the other site hangs like mad too. This is not my imagination or my ISP. I have several other computers (all windows) on this network and none of them have the same problem.

Additionally, this happens on the myspace back end as well. It's not just the junk CSS code on profiles. It hangs on the inbox, on blog, and every myspace page whether it's been modified or not.

It's definitely a real problem with Firefox for the Mac and myspace....
 
Firefox itself is bloated although Firefox 2 is definitely faster.

And, one thing I have to point out is that 90% of the web looks good in IE because 90% of developers code FOR Internet Explorer. It's a simple issue of demographics. 90% of users hit the site with IE, so most of the development is geared towards making a page look good in IE.
 
rebeccabo said:
It's definitely a real problem with Firefox for the Mac and myspace....
Click to expand...

I use the lighter Camino (it uses the same Mozzila rendering engine as FireFox. I have absolutely no problems loading Myspace (who would use that piece of crap anyway)or any other heavy laden sites.
 
Satcomer said:
Welcome to the wonderful world on men one upping their domains and thinking MySpace is either stealing their bandwidth, envious and trying to get kids to use their services or think MySpace is nothing but a pedophiles dream. The problem is not the Mac, it is the ISP's (the one YOU are using) DNS server problem. You as the user do not have to put up with this so you could use another DNS server other than your ISP. One that is getting a lot of praise is OpenDNS. It is cross platform and here is the OS X instructions.
Click to expand...

Satcomer, wow... I've looked up the site OpenDNS and changed my Linksys router according to the instructions provided. Browsing seems quite a bit faster . I can't be 100% sure as my down- and up-load speeds vary quite a bit. I'm on a two-way Direcway Satelite system (WildBlue in the US, Direcway or Xplorenet here in Canada). My question: what is happening? What are the changes affecting and why is the browsing faster, if it is? Would it also affect my VOIP system, as it is connected to my router? I will have to run some download speed test with the old and the new settings over a period of days/weeks to determine what the difference is. Very curious about this issue as the sat. connection is expensive and often slow. Any tweak helping to get more speed is highly appreciated...
 
Satcomer said:
I use the lighter Camino (it uses the same Mozzila rendering engine as FireFox.
Click to expand...

I've started using BonEcho soon after I've purchased my MacBook Pro last year. Any thoughts on that? I don't read much about it on this forum, what's the main difference to Firefox (on which it is based, I believe)?
The website states: Optimized Firefox 2.0 for G4, G5 and Intel Macs...
but why?
http://www.beatnikpad.com/archives/2006/10/26/firefox-20
 
Firefox and Camino uses the same exact rendering engine! Camino separates itself by being written X-Code (native OS X language). So it feels and looks like a native OS X application.

The OpenDNS thing has to do with your greedy ISP not hiring a person that actually knows proper DNS server administration. It is that simple.
 
I'm using OpenDNS on my router at home and it's working wonderfully. I was a bit hesitant at first to do so, but now that I have I don't dare use my ISPs DNS nameservers now. :D
 
Oh I forgot to mention the changing you DNS will not increase you download speed. All it does is reply (and update their DNS database) quicker when you computer looks for site. Also they don't favor their site when DNS messes up (usually by a user mistype) like so many ISPs do. If you want the quickest possible web response you would have to surf by the site's (that you want to go to) IP address.

This is all simple old fashion networking on the Arpa/Internet. I am still surprised today of how many supposed "computer experts" don't know about simple networking. I will give an example to all of you, how many people here actually know where your actual network node gateway for you neighborhood? I will give you a clue, it is not your ISP.
 
Satcomer said:
I will give an example to all of you, how many people here actually know where your actual network node gateway for you neighborhood?
Click to expand...

Umm, try rewriting that question in English, as a grammatically complete sentence, and I'll give a shot at the answer.

On the larger question of being a computer snob, it's worth pointing out that the technology associated with computers and networking has become sufficiently complex that no one really has the right to lord over others their knowledge of some niche. I worked for years with Mark Abene/Phiber Optik, the famous hacker. He tought me a lot about server administration -- and knew way more than he could ever teach me -- but couldn't necessarily tell me the most efficient way to iterate through an array of objects in Java. That doesn't mean he was an idiot. My father worked on the instrument panel for the Apollo spacecraft series while at MIT, but occasionally has questions about web development.

I have an introductory computer programming book from 1981 that makes the prediction that, by the end of the 1980s, everyone who used a computer would have to know some basic procedural programming. This of course was wrong. Many people, even a few years after that, would be involved in highly complex uses of computers without knowing how to write a function in any language.

We all have our areas of knowledge. None of us is a true "computer expert".
 
I know this thread has been inactive for some time now. Are there any additional updates to this problem?

I am returning back to Mac since 1990 and my Macintosh SE desk top and I have also noticed some if not most web sites are slow to open and even fully open correctly.

I will install OpenDNS and give that a try and I just finished opening Camino. So far so good!

Thanks for everyones help!
 
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