Internet Browsing Very, Very Slow/Incomplete Page Loads

Question

_*The Computers:*_
MacPro 2008 dual quad core and MacBookPro 2.66 mid 2009 both running OS 10.5.8.
_*The Problem:*_
The Mac Pro which is hard wired is very very slow and many times will time out before it can load a page or will only load part of the page (lots of little boxes with question marks in them or page loads part of the way and stops)and the wheel just keeps spinning. Sometimes I can hit the x and reload and it will work just fine. Sometimes, this does not help. The MacBook Pro which is wireless behaves the same way.
_*The Internet Set Up:*_
DSL line runs from wall to Surewest (ISP) router, then out to a 5 port Dlink switch. From the switch I run straight into the Mac Pro and to the Airport Express. The Airport Express is about 2.5 years old. It runs b/g while the MacBook Pro has draft N capability. I noticed that since I replaced my older MacBook Pro which was b/g, the new one shows a much stronger signal, which is why I can't understand why its slower.
_*The Testing:*_
I don't think its my ISP because when I run speedtest.net, I get what I always get, 3mb/s download and I have run that test many, many times over the last few days. The only change has been in the ping. It used to be consistently 16-17 ms and now it varies going as high as 24-26 ms. I have no clue if that is indicative of a problem. Data downloads, including iTunes work just fine.
_*Potential Culprit:*_
The only other change was that this weekend, I downloaded xmarks (formerly foxmarks) to unify and coordinate my bookmarks across both computers. I have since run the xmarks uninstaller on both machines and deleted the online account. However, it has not made any difference.
_*Attempted Solutions:*_
I already rebooted the Airport Express and changed the channel from auto to a higher number. No effect.
_*Other Possible Solutions:*_
I will reboot the ISP modem tonight.
I am also considering uninstalling and reinstalling Safari with the thought that xmarks somehow screwed it up, but I also had the problem in Firefox in which I did not install xmarks. If I pull the Safari bookmark.plst file before I uninstall Safari, I should be able to just drop it in to the fresh install and keep my bookmarks.
Someone suggested that I switch to Open DNS. This is beyond my area of expertise so to speak, so I am a little afraid to mess with it. If one of you wouldn't mind giving me a more complete explanation and instructions, I would appreciate it.
Any other thoughts, advice or things to try? Thanks for the assistance.

Answer 1

Greetings,
Deleting and then reinstalling Safari is not a solution, so I would strongly advise against it. It's very rare that the application you're having a problem with using is the actual problem; rather, it's something the program relies on that is causing the problem. Instead, try this:
Quit Safari if it's running and open System Preferences>Network>Advanced.
In the DNS Server window, make sure IPv6 is turned off, and enter these two DNS servers to replace the ones you currently have (if any):
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220
click Apply Now and quit System Preferences.
Next, do these things in order:
1. Go to Home/Library/Cookies and delete the Cookies.plist file.
2. Go to Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
3. Go to Home/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Web Page Previews and delete the contents of that folder.
4. If you don't want to use the Top Sites feature, open Terminal and paste in this command:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSnapshotsUpdatePolicy -int 2
5. Go to Home/Library/Caches/Metadata/Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
6. Go to Home/Library/Caches/Safari and delete the contents of that folder.
7. Go to Home/Library/Safari and delete these files (if you have them):
Downloads.plist
History.plist
Form Values
LastSession.plist
WebpageIcons.db
Then Repair Disk Permisions, restart Safari and see if the speed is improved.