One of the more notorious problems you might run into when using a computer is a browser hijacking attack, where stumbling upon a maliciously crafted Web site will result in an alert being repeatedly displayed, regardless of how many times you try to close it. While you might resort to force-quitting Safari to overcome this problem, with Apple’s “Resume” feature in OS X, when you re-launch the browser your Web pages will load again, resulting in the same frustrating behavior. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Web browser
Safari 9 brings Responsive Design preview mode
With the advancement of Web content towards mobile platforms, if you are a developer then you may need to test various sites on different devices to ensure compatibility. With Safari 9.0, Apple has introduced a new mode that allows you to view any Web page as if you are using a different device, such as an iPad, or an iPhone. Continue reading
How to fully reset Safari on your Mac
Being the default browser shipped with every Mac, you are very likely using Safari as your main way of accessing the Web. Therefore, if something goes wrong where Safari either loads and runs slowly, crashes on startup, or is otherwise not functioning correctly, then you might find yourself in a bit of a frustrating situation. If you need to reset aspects of Safari in order to regain functionality, then even though the options for doing so are somewhat scattered, you can still use them to regain use of your browser. Continue reading
Browser address bar exploit persists in Safari; other Mac browsers unaffected
A bug that existed in both Chrome and Safari continues to persist in Safari, and allows a malicious Web site to spoof the browser’s address bar to make it appear that you are at one URL when in fact you are at another.
When data phishing sites attempt to steal your information, they will commonly create page layouts that mimic popular and trustworthy pages like those from Facebook, Paypal, Apple, and others. While some of these are impressively similar to the official pages, one easy way to detect them is to look at your address bar and see that the page’s URL is not an official one. Continue reading
Bittorrent announces Project Maelstrom to decentralize Web browsing
BitTorrent, the company behind the popular and sometimes controversial Bittorrent decentralized peer to peer file sharing technology, has announced Project Maelstrom, a new Web browser that aims apply its file sharing technology to the way we browse the Web. Currently, when you load a Web site you get data from that site’s servers directly, which under heavy loads (ie, during product announcements), can result in slowdowns and service interruptions. Continue reading
Firefox likely coming to iOS
In a recent tweet following an internal meeting at Mozilla, Lukas Blakk, the Firefox release manager made an announcement that indicates the company is breaking its stance of not bringing its popular Web browser to iOS, and will instead be pursuing a route to have the browser available as an App, similar to Chrome, Safari, and other browsers. In addition, Mozilla has made a similar announcement on its blog, outlining its new interest in iOS. Continue reading
New feature helps Safari page troubleshooting in OS X Yosemite
A small change in the way Safari manages web pages in Yosemite will allow you to more easily troubleshoot any pages that are unresponsive or otherwise stuck.
If you ever run across a site that either hangs, or repeatedly shows a message that you cannot get rid of and which prevents you from otherwise interacting with Safari (e.g., closing the window), then you might find yourself resorting to force-quitting the program; however, there is an alternative you can use to more specifically manage the problem. Continue reading
How to stay safe using iCloud and other online services
Following the recent hack attempts against its iCloud service in China, Apple has published a reminder page to inform you of how to detect fraudulent sites that are pretending to be legitimate ones, by determining if the remote server is using valid certificates and proper encryption.
While Apple’s servers were not compromised and iCloud data and passwords were not revealed in the recent attacks, this event serves as a good reminder to check for the validity of any Web site you are connecting to, especially if it contains private or sensitive information. Continue reading
Tackle Web pages not loading in OS X
Arguably Safari, Firefox, Chrome and other Web browsers are perhaps the most commonly used applications on your Mac, so when browsing various sites, you might be frustrated if pages suddenly stop updating with content you know is new, or stop loading at all.
At times these can be server-based issues that you simply have to deal with, but at other times Continue reading
How to change the default Web browser and E-mail client in OS X
When you click a link in OS X, be it a Web link or a mailto link for sending an e-mail, OS X will open the default program that is associated for handling this type of link. In a fresh OS X installation, these will be set to Safari and Mail, but you can use any program that is capable of managing these links.
As with handling files of a particular type, OS X uses Continue reading