Comments on: Mastering Safari’s General Preferences

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 08:14:06 +0000

@Ron, you clear your Safari history on an iPad in the General Preferences under the Safari section.

You can also prohibit cookies there as well, however, doing so will make near all but the simplest of websites stop working for you.

By: hexley

hexley — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:35:10 +0000

@Gerladine, the Sharing button is in your System Preferences. Open that, and click on the “Sharing” icon, it is the 3rd row, last icon for me. http://i.imgur.com/hgi0Z.gif

I am not sure what you mean by “undermined by Apache” but Apache is a web server, and more than likely not something you should be running. I would avoid it and consider it a very advanced feature. If it is causing you problems, disable it by unchecking “Web Sharing” is the same “Sharing” preferences area I linked the image to.

Unless you need to share files with another user, you can actually disable most, if not all of the checkboxes in the sharing preferences. If you do want to share files with another user on a Mac or PC, you will need to click ON the “File Sharing” checkmark in the “Sharing” preferences.

If your goal is Mac to PC sharing, that can become a challenge as you also will need to make changes on the PC to allow it to share files. That can mean changes to the PC’s sharing, firewall, and virus settings, which is a lot.

In those cases, as well as in many Mac cases, I suggest uses simply install DropBox for file sharing. It is free and offers much more than just sharing of files. I rely on it daily. You can join through my referral link here: http://db.tt/sSd7dtZ

I will also email you an invite in case that is easier for you. By all means, try to use Apple’s built in sharing, but look over what DropBox has to offer, as for free, it may have other value to you than the built in file sharing of Mac OS X.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:00:35 +0000

On my iPad (first gen.) how can I clear history? and prohibit cookies?

By: Geraldine

Geraldine — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 00:24:34 +0000

Everything is great. I’m also new to the Apple and have been struggling. I no onger feel alone. Howver, I can’t find the “sharing” button under preferences. I’m being undermined by Apache. Please help.

By: hexley

hexley — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:29:33 +0000

@Karen, in Safari on the Mac you can access the preferences with the command-comma keys or you can go to the “Safari” menu and select “Preferences”.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 09:36:37 +0000

I’m a PC to Mac convert and have used Safari on the PC where it shows the “file, edit, view, history, bookmarks, window, help” menu AND no little “gear” or “cog” icon where you can access the Preferences!! How do I get that icon??? Please help!

By: kendrick

kendrick — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:59:57 +0000

i have problems with safari, i cant open some webs using safari.

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:29:33 +0000

@Gary, Preferences for the Windows version of Safari are explained by Apple in this Safari 4 for Windows Document.

By: gary strutin

gary strutin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:52:24 +0000

actually, I can’t locate the preference screen.

Gary

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:03:31 +0000

@Gary
Are you stating you can’t locate the preferences, or that there is some other issue? The more details that is given, the better chances that a solution may be offered up.

By: gary strutin

gary strutin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:00:41 +0000

we just started using safari on our XP pc. It is much better and faster than the internet explorer we had been using for years. BUT…I can’t access the preferences. I would like to change the opening screen to a particular web page rather than the apple one it goes to now.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:36:23 +0000

I FOUND IT!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH COULDNT HAVE DONE ITWITHOUT YOU!! THANK YOU

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:20:37 +0000

@cynthia PreferencePanes are not the same things as Prefernces. You are looking for a folder called Preferences and a file called com.apple.Safari.plist. You are also looking for a folder called Safari.

You do not need Safari open to delete these files, Safari should actually be closed. From my previous reply:

Possible locations for the preferences are in your Library folder, you should see a Preferences folder, files named com.apple.Safari.plist and also any folders named Safari will be suspect.

If the file does not have the name “safari” in it, I would leave it alone. I certainly wold not delete files in the Preference Pane folder.

Hope that helps.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:01:38 +0000

Thank you for your help…. I have went into the libery find a preferencePanes, whatever that is!!! I am a dummy on this computer. Im trying to delete all this stuff but dont know how. I dont care about anything on here just wont safari to work! cant find safari preference,cause I cant open it long enough.

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:29:13 +0000

@cynthia The hard part about your problem is that I do not have any access to an OS 10.2 machine, let alone Safari 1. Have you ran software update to make sure you can not get a more current version of Safari?

At this point, my only suggestion would be to quit Safari, which seems to be the simple part and then start looking for the preferences that control Safari. Once you find those, move them aside, or delete them if you are feeling brave. See if that solves it for you.

Possible locations for the preferences are in your Library folder, you should see a Preferences folder, files named com.apple.Safari.plist and also any folders named Safari will be suspect.

With the preferences removed, the next time you open Safari it will make them new again. You will see a file called bookmarks.plist. You may want to hold onto that, as that contains your bookmarks. There may be a chance that corruption in that file is causing this, and you will have to be with a clean slate of bookmarks.

Good luck.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:42:06 +0000

My SAFARI 1.0.3 for my very old imac10.2 will not stop quiting on me. I have tried everything I know. It pops up for 1 second and quits. I dont know if i clicked on somethimg I wasnt supposed to. Now I only have the E web and I can only LOOK at my google messages,no deleting,no relying nothing! what do I do,please HELP ME!!!!!

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:34:12 +0000

@Jord, there is a reply to @Tom, with a solution.

By: Jord

Jord — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:05:46 +0000

Hello, I have the same proble as Tom. When i choose preferences i only get the advanced tab. The is absolutely no way as far as i can see to select the other tabs. I just un-clean installed 10.5. And am quite the expert user but now i’m at a loss… HELP PLEASE!
Jord

By: foo

foo — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:53:34 +0000

To turn off google suggestion, use:

http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=0

By: Jimmy Longacre

Jimmy Longacre — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:08:38 +0000

Can anyone tell me how to turn off the query suggestion drop down from the search box? I’m using Mac OSX, in Google. Even though I check “do not provide query suggestions” in preferences, and “save preferences” they still persist. A maddening feature!!!

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:28:12 +0000

Thanks! It worked! I thought I had clicked that small button or chicklet in the upper, but I obviously didn’t. Thanks again.

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:47:19 +0000

@Tom, it looks like you are not using a current version of Safari. There is a small button or chicklet in the upper right of the window in Safari prefs, that will show the top header.

The version of Safari that ships with Leopard, does not allow you to toggle the header off. I would click that button, and you should be back in business.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:22:44 +0000

I’m not sure how I attach the screenshot. I just dragged the picture into this box. Hope it works.

/Users/motnitram/Desktop/Picture 1.png

By: Scott Haneda

Scott Haneda — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:39:57 +0000

@Tom, could you email in a screenshot of the window so I can see what you are talking about?

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:01:15 +0000

Thank you for your response, but there isn’t a “General Icon” at the top of the preferences window. It’s nothing like the window pictured above. In the advanced window that pops up the only options it gives me are: “Never use font smaller than_”, “style sheet (none selected)”, and “proxies”.

Any other ideas what I could do?