Suddenly, my mac's internet programs (firefox and safari) are crashing. sometimes moments after opening. i ran disc utility, erased history and cashes, and don't remember visiting any strange sites. i have run updates in the last few months, but this all started in one day. any ideas for what's wrong/ how to fix it?
Sometimes for what seems to be a very difficult issue, can in fact have a simple solution.
These browsers have preferences lists in their directories which if corrupted adversely impact the functionality of these web browser applications, so try these steps:
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-REMOVING SAFARI & FIREFOX PLISTS-
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• From your desktop, click anywhere on a blank space on your desktop. Now you should see Finder listed near the Apple menu icon.
• From the Finder menu, click on Go, then Home from the
drop-down menu. This will take you to your Home folder.
• Locate and open the Library folder
• Within Library folder look for the Preferences folder and open it.
• Locate and remove to the Trash, these files:
com.apple.Safari.plist
com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist
org.mozilla.firefox.plist
Once you have removed these files to the Trash, click the back button on the open Finder window.
• This will return you back to the Library view where you now will need to locate and remove to the Trash, the folder entitled "Caches".
*Once that folder is removed to the Trash, close all applications and open windows.
* Next, click on the Apple menu icon (upper left corner of your screen) and select from the drop down window, Logout<username>. This will take you the main login window. Simply log back in to your current user account.
* Before testing your Safari and Firefox browsers, perform one more procedure in order to repair folder/file permissions.
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-RUN DISK UTILITY FIRST-
Go to Finder Menu bar
• Click Go > Utilities > Disk Utility and open up Disk Utility app.
• Click on Macintosh HD volume (or on the name you have changed
this volume to.)
• Select "Repair Disk Permissions"
**Let Disk Utility run this repair permissions process, until completion.
Once Disk Utility is complete and there are no errors in red in the completion summary (if there are errors listed in red, re-run DU to see if those error will clear- if they don't reply back to this post right away and let me know what the exact error message is), quit Disk Utility.
• Once this is completed, now you should relaunch
both Safari and Firefox to see if they will now launch.
Update me if these processes did not help.
Thanks!
Regards,
-Mactechtrainer
Also run disk utility first ,click macintosh,repair disk then go from there,but mke sure to relaunch,or you will end up with a shinfto error(mac report551crc data775.1)
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Usually answered in minutes!
If both Safari and Firefox are crashing at the same time, it’s usually not the browsers themselves but something system-wide.
A few common causes you might want to check:
• Corrupted system cache or user profile
• Problematic extensions or plugins
• Network-related issues (DNS, proxies, or VPNs)
• macOS-level bugs or outdated components
Since you already cleared history and ran Disk Utility, I’d suggest:
Boot into Safe Mode and test if the issue still happens
Disable all extensions (especially in Safari)
Try creating a new macOS user account to isolate the issue
Reset network settings (DNS or remove custom configs)
If both browsers crash instantly, it’s often tied to system-level conflicts rather than browser data alone.
This guide also covers common causes and fixes for system/browser crashes if you want a more complete walkthrough:https://fixerrorsnow.com/web-browsers/sa...
I hope this can help you
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