Safari crashes at so many sites. Any tips?

Question

I've had my Macbook since Christmas 2007 with very few problems. However, lately, Safari has been crashing at many websites including hotmail, facebook, ebay, and more. I'm away that hotmail and Safari never been good friends (and my HTTP mail plug-in stopped working for my Mail app so I can't check my hotmail through Mail but that's a whole other problem) but now it's crashing at random spots. I noticed it crashes whenever I'm filling in a form. For example, it crashed when I try to login to hotmail and face after typing in my login and password, it crashed on urbanoutfitters.com while I was trying to place an order and was typing in my shipping information, it crashed on ebay when I was typing in a form, etc. It's become very frustrating. I've emptied my cache, fiddled with my cookies settings, etc. Can anyone suggest anything? Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

If your Safari keeps crashing, or if you are updating Safari (or just have):
Input Managers and other plug-ins from third parties can do as much harm as good. They use a security loophole to reach right into your applications' code and change that code as the application starts up. If you have installed 10.4.11 and Safari is crashing, the very first thing to do is clear out your InputManagers folders (both in your own Library and in the top-level Library), log out and log back in, and try again.
So, disable all third party add-ons before updating Safari, as they may not have been updated yet for the new version. Add them back one by one. If something goes awry, remove it again and check on the software manufacturer's website for news of an update to match your version of Safari. Remember: Tiger up to 10.4.10 used Safari 2.0.4 or, if you downloaded it, Safari 3.0.3 beta. Safari 10.4.11 uses Safari 3.0.4 which is not a beta. If Safari 3.0.4 on 10.4.11 is not the fastest browser you have ever used, then something is wrong!
(Trying to revert to Safari 2 when running 10.4.11 can have repercussions, as Safari 3.0.4 uses a completely different webkit on which other applications like iChat, Mail, Dashboard widgets etc also rely.)
Most errors reported here after an update are due to an unrepaired or undetected inherent fault in the system, and/or a third party ad-on. Add-on that have been frequently mentioned here, among others, for causing such problems are Piclens, Saft, AcidSearch and Pithhelmet. If you have them, trash them and go the developer's sites to see if new versions are available for Safari 3.0.4.
You should also ensure, if you are running Tiger 10.4.11, that you have downloaded and installed the correct version for your Mac of Security Update 2008-001.
As Leopard also uses Safari 3.0.4, much of the above may well also apply to Leopard, but is not guaranteed. Moreover:
Some users have mentioned that the latest Flash Player (v.9.0.115.0) conflicts with Safari in Leopard, and that they have needed to revert to v. 9.0.47. This can be downloaded from here:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14266&sliceId=1