This has come up before I think and I hope someone can point me to the solution. Safari 5.1.7 on OS 10.6.8 will not quit. No other software open. Help will be gratefully received. Roy.
Hi Roy, as always effective answers may depend on the Mac model and OS version being quoted, along with an outline of what you were doing at the time, for example if you have recently installed any Safari extensions or other software.
Here are some (general) strategies: Force quit Safari. If restarting Safari solves the issue -- great!
You could also switch off your router, wait for five minutes or so, and restart it.
See if Safari opens and quits normally from another User (System Preferences > Users and Groups/Accounts). This can tell you if some software in your own user setup may be causing the problem which may be associated with just one website.
Otherwise restart your Mac with the shift key held down until the progress bar appears (Safe Boot). This is slow, but clears all kinds of curmudgeonly issues by processes that Apple has never put on record.
Note: Safe Boot dissociates your Mac from the internet and emails as well as excluding non-Apple software from loading. If you can start and quit Safari within safe boot that's a step forward.
Restart your Mac to exit from Safe Boot and see if the issue is resolved.
Try the above strategies first. If you have no success with it, download (if necessary through a friend) the appropriate (free) copy of Onyx from www.titanium.fr -- make sure you use the edition set up for your OSX version -- and under 'Cleaning' > 'Internet' delete 'Browser Cache'. NB after clearing a cache it may take a bit more time than normal to re-establish itself on restart. Restart your Mac.
Don't neglect to visit Safari > Preferences > Security and disable "Java" -- "JavaScript" should remain enabled.
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Apologies to Martin Spenceley (my respected and long-time friend) who will howl with righteous indignation at these suggestions. Happily Martin is an experienced and successful professional programmer who runs a clinically clean Mac, and is very seldom afflicted :-)
PS: Safari Quitting was an issue you raised on 26th July 2011. If there are other apparently unrelated issues on your Mac (perhaps caused by leaving too little free space on your start up hard drive which should ideally be 12% to 15% of total capacity or more) it may be time to consider an archive and install system cleanup.
Roy Rainford 