As we’ve previously reported, a variety of factors can cause Safari for Mac OS X to slowly load pages, open new tabs and windows, and perform other operations.
Apple has now posted a knowledge base article titled “Safari 5.0.1 or later: Slow or partial webpage loading, or webpage cannot be found,” which lists two potential fixes for the issue.
The first echoes our previously posted fix for the issue, switching DNS servers from those generated by your ISP to those offered by OpenDNS. To do so:
- Open System Preferences and click “Network”
- Select your connection method (AirPort, Ethernet, etc.)
- Enter the following items in the “DNS Server” field: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220
- Click Apply
Or you can try Google’s public DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
Apple’s second fix involves disabling DNS prefetching. We previously noted that anecdotal evidence suggests that this issue is caused by a problem with Safari 5.0′s DNS prefetching mechanism, which appears to send more requests than allowed by some ISPs. This issue may also cause problems with some routers.
Apple’s instructions for disabling prefetching in Mac OS X require opening the Terminal (click the Spotlight icon–magnifying glass–in the upper-right portion of the screen and type “Terminal”) then entering the following command:
defaults write com.apple.safari WebKitDNSPrefetchingEnabled -boolean false
then quitting and restarting Safari.
Apple also recommends upgrading router firmware or switching routers, and offers instructions for re-enabling DNS prefetching if a firmware update or router switch resolves the issue.
For full instructions, including prefetching disabling instructions for Windows, and re-enabling prefetching, see the knowledge base article.
September 15, 2010 at 10:56 AM
I just tried this, and it’s amazing. A lot of my webpages wouldn’t load the comment sections, like http://www.CBC.ca, and I would have to reload the page a couple of times. It seems to be working exceptionally well.
September 15, 2010 at 8:10 PM
seems to help with my netgear router… faster now when using safari 5 with less stalls
September 21, 2010 at 9:24 AM
This worked like a charm. Funny thing is I am already using opendns, and my ‘outdated non-robust’ router as described in the apple document is a apple airport extreme dual band on the latest firmware…
March 8, 2011 at 10:52 AM
The first solution worked great for me! Safari was all of a sudden slow after a rainy night in LA (the rain usually messes with our internet speed) and never returned to normal after that. Thanks!
June 1, 2011 at 7:52 AM
I tried using the Google DNS servers and it is working great!! FINALLY!!
June 16, 2011 at 7:34 PM
Worked like a charm. Thankyou
July 31, 2011 at 9:15 AM
Do I delete the other DNS in prefs? Or just leave the long list?
May 20, 2012 at 4:59 PM
Wow What a difference
208.67.220.220
208.67.220.220
Worked wonderfully !
August 23, 2012 at 10:22 PM
Since the Macbook has been used with several different ISP’s and routers, I decided that the DNS is probably not be the problem and went straight to fix 2 (Disabling the prefetching). It’s loading everything much quicker than before! Some sites are still slow, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the site’sserver and no longer the Macbook.
Thanks!
Eugene
October 6, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Seems to work for my desktop, which as of a few weeks ago suddenly started loading super slow -and I mean SUPER slow. I don’t remember updating, but at least this helps. Thanks!
November 22, 2012 at 11:35 AM
Excellent! solved my problem.
January 15, 2013 at 12:41 PM
This worked for me, so far touch wood. Couldn’t believe that a brand new 2.7ghz, 768gb, 16gb Macbook Pro Retina was so slow using Safari. Hanging all the time on most things Google related. Unbelievable. Fingers crossed the fix is permanent.
February 13, 2013 at 2:41 PM
U generated a number of terrific tips in your post, _Fix Safari Slow, Stalled Page Loads by Disabling DNS Prefetching – Apple Toolbox_.
I will be coming back again to ur page in the near future.
Thanks -Jimmie