“A blogger has identified an apparent flaw in the Apple’s Mac OS X graphics display engine, ImageIO, that will crash the company’s Safari Web browser and other system applications, including the Finder. The flaw, posted by DrunkenBlog, crashes anything using the Mac OS X ImageIO API including Finder, Preview, and applications based on Webkit and WebCore — Apple JavaScript/HTML display engine for Safari and other applications,” MacNN reports.
Full article with more info and link to test the flaw here.
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>>One other thing, I restart Safari every three days to make it hand memory back which it starts to hog.
Huh? And you still stay Safari is good? That’s called a memory leak. Not even IE has a memory leak. You really shouldn’t have to restart applications because they are hogging memory. Not good.
I haven’t had any problems with Safari crashing on any of my Macs (PM G5, Intel G5, iMac G4, iBook G4) on 10.4.5 or 10.4. No problems after waking from sleep either. Curious stuff.
I’d agree with Macaday to be honest, it’s the most stable browser I’ve ever had. No problems at all – and for the few websites who can’t be bothered to code for Safari, I use Firefox (also very good).
Also, if people notice any niggling problems, don’t keep quiet til some blogger points it out – click on the bug report button and send to Apple!
I haven’t used Safari for about 6 months now. I am liking, and using, SeaMonkey as my main browser. Next, is OmniWeb, then Camino. That’s my order of preference for now. Just can’t get to liking FireFox…
SeaMonkey doesn’t look so great, but the more I use it, the more I appreciate what it can do, and it is solid/stable and opens every page I have ever thrown its way.
MDN Magic Word: “pay” – as in, OmniWeb is worth “pay”ing for… it’s that good.
Macady: “One other thing, I restart Safari every three days to make it hand memory back which it starts to hog. “
LOL. Tip to Macaday – that´s not good. What a genius.
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It’s been hard trying to be a fanboy lately with all these exploits and flaws.
I recommended Mac’s with Mac OS X to a lot of friends, because it was such a great alternative to Windows. I even helped set them up and was proud they were happy.
Now all I hear is complaints and paranoia.
Thanks a lot Apple. 🙁
No crashes for me, though I rarely close Safari, and almost never switch off my iMac G5. I have Saft, AcidSearch and Webstractor which would surely cause me more crashes than other users. I did buy and install Saft because of the protection it gives me for the executable shell script exploit in Safari.
But then again reloading my last active tabs is just a god send when you don’t need to make a bookmark but do wish to view something when you have more time. The Saft bookmark enhancements are again something that Safari is poor at. After all this is pretty core functionality for a web browser.
I still recommend the Mac to all my work colleagues though they all ridicule me. I’m more than keen to remind them of MS-Vista’s recent changed release date. To keep customers waiting since 2003 for a new product shows just how dependent businesses have become on Windows. I’m keenly waiting for Leopard, but just what is it going to have?
I use Safari in 10.3.9. Once or twice a week I hit a web page that causes it to quit. It’s not a big deal. Apple will fix it.
Right now they’ve got much bigger problems to focus on, like getting a ProMac powered by Intel out the door. On its worst day Safari is a thousand times more stable than OS-9 which would lock up the whole machine and require a shutdown and cold reboot.
A much larger browser problem for Mac users is web sites that use Direct-X (which is MS-only technology).
My wife files insurance claim forms online and some of the companies use Direct-X in their web-forms. It’s getting so bad we may actually have to buy a PC for her to use because of pinhead site designers implementing this proprietary code. Bank of America figured out how to work around Direct-X so it’s not impossible.
Open standards are good. MS proprietary standards are a bummer for every computer user!
I hope this was reported to Apple if in fact it is a bug and not just posted on a blog
#4485821
1. MDN should have followed it with the (TM) Firefox not affected.
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2. Drunken Blogger Shoots Straight: We have very different definitions of “serious bug”. Of course it’s a good reflection on OS X when simply causing a Web browser to crash is a “serious bug”. But I can think of, oh, about 7,000 more “serious bugs” in Windows. Bugs that open your computer to every form of security attack known to man are “serious”. I would classify this as an “annoying bug”, but not “serious”.
Stuart:
The problem is flip4mac. I installed it and had nothing but problems. I uninstalled it and those problems went away. I’m still using a G4, so Microsoft’s Windows Media Player (free download) is a viable option.
I don’t know if the MS player works with Intel Macs, or how flip4mac works on Intel Macs.
Anyone out there care to share their experinece on .wmv files and Intel Macs?
Yeah Safari needs some work yet. I’ve switched to Firefox for the most part…
no problems with it…I clear history and empty the cache every day, open & quit as I need it, but I have noticed that some of my widgets crash sporadically on hiding them
anyone who helps the Mac OS stronger, better and safer is worthy of a pat on the back and at least 2 shots of his favorite ‘beverage’, no matter who he is
If there is ONE thing I’ve learned from reading the posts on this website, it’s that if a writer doesn’t have a strident, negative opinion about something Apple related, he feels weak and “fanboyish.”
How truly pathetic.
The greatest enemy of “the good” is “the perfect.”
The best stomach is NOT that which rejects ALL food.
Truly, anyone who expects to live in a Garden of Eden in today’s complex computer-world is going to be gravely disappointed. But . . . sitting on the highest horse possible sure helps to ease the pain, huh?
Have had only two small “crashes” of Safari, and after I reopen I have no problem, even when I go back to the page I was on when it crashed. Also have had two kernel panics on the Intel iMac, both when computer was on the login screen and on sleep mode overnight (so I’ve been shutting down each night as a precaution). No technology is perfect, but I’d rather deal with these than a Blue Screen of Death…
MW=head, as in, “Let’s head off all the FUD right here and now…”
Golum, I second that. This henpecking isn’t constructive and doesn’t help anyone. It’s not even interesting to read. Most Mac users are going to use Safari. Send a bug report, it will get fixed if enough of us point out the problem. Honestly, sometimes there seems to be more folks here that want to stir things up than there are Mac enthusiasts!
One more thing. I think posters yesterday, I won’t mention any names, who put links it their posts that where supposed to be an image but instead crashed your browser, are incredibly rude. And should be spanked.
“Also have had two kernel panics on the Intel iMac, both when computer was on the login screen and on sleep mode overnight (so I’ve been shutting down each night as a precaution). No technology is perfect, but I’d rather deal with these than a Blue Screen of Death…”
hmm…how exactly is a KP any “better” than a BSOD? Both require you to restart. It sounds like you have some issues with your new mac if you’ve had 2 KP’s since you purchased it and can’t even keep the thing in sleep mode overnight. To be perfectly honest, I havent encounter a single BSOD since installing Windows XP 3 years ago. Don’t spread FUD.
“I use Safari in 10.3.9. Once or twice a week I hit a web page that causes it to quit. It’s not a big deal. Apple will fix it. “
Are you kidding me? Crashing 1-2 times PER WEEK is NOT A BIG DEAL? What is wrong with you people? For god sakes, SPEAK UP. Let Apple know about these problems. This is not normal.
Before 2.0, Safari used to crash on me, but it’s been pretty solid for me since then. :shrug:
I routinely have Safari hit the maximum open files per process limit on my core duo mac mini. When it does this, the app just closes, regardless of what you were doing. And without warning, no crash dialog nothing. I really wish Apple made it easier to tweak this value.
“Drunken Blogger Shoots Straight” — …most Mac users are living in a Fool’s Paradise regarding security.
Uh huh, right, Fool’s Paradise, check, got it, anything else to add?
I’m really growing tired of people who throw out statements like this without justifying them in any way. Of course, every time a “justification” is posted, Mac users rebut it into dust, so people like DBSS above have learned not to bother and just repeat the same bulls#!+ over and over in the hope that it will become de facto truth. “Mac users do not worry about security; therefore Mac users are delusional.”
When the first SERIOUS threat emerges, then and only then can Mac users be accused of being in denial. Until then, they are perfectly justified in behaving as if there is nothing to worry about.
Safari hasn’t crashed for me yet. Like others have said Apple will put out a fix for it soon.
Does anyone know if it crashes Quicktime too? Closing out of fullscreen mode sometimes kills it on my machine. No Safari or Finder problems though
“…even Apple sometimes makes mistakes…”
Mealy-mouthed rationalizations. “I’m a Mac User – and it’s great no matter what!”.
Bubble-boy Looozerrrsss!