Today morning an update notification popped-up on my Leopard. It was for Safari - Version 3.2(5525.26.12). This version addresses a number of bugs including - image handling, XML file processing, and several security vulnerabilities. In addition, the update adds support for anti-phishing technology to help protect users from malicious websites.
Looking at all the enhancements made available to the newer version I decided to update my Safari to the newer Version 3.2 (5525.26.12). This is how I updated my Safari.
- Exit Safari, if using.
- Upgrade your Safari to Version 3.2 (5525.26.12) by downloading and installing update from Apple just as you would do for any normal Apple application.
- After you download and install the update, it will ask you to reboot your machine for update to take effect.
- Reboot your machine.
While update provides the necessary bug fixes and enhancements, I have started seeing Safari crashes in about every 30 seconds. After much of digging at the crash reports, I realized that a third-party plugin called PithHelmet was the culprit.
I thought of reinstalling the PithHelmet to get it working again. But it seems I'd have to wait for an update from the plugin developer to restore the functionality.
I installed PithHelmet on suggestion that this will effectively block ads while using Safari. Unfortunately, that was not the case. All in all, PithHelmet was making the browsing experience worse. So, I decided to uninstall the PithHelmet plugin.
Now, the question arises for me is "How do I uninstall PithHelmet?"
From the site: Trashing the PithHelmet.bundle from /Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/ folder will effectively remove PithHelmet from Safari...Unfortunately, it did not solve the problem.
With the help of Pacifist, I started analyzing PithHelmet. I found out that it comes with 2 packages. PithHelmet and its secondary component DuctTape.
To delete all remains of PithHelmet from your system, trash the following files/folders:
- Exit Safari
- Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins/PithHelmet
/Library/Application Support/PithHelmet - Macintosh HD/Library/Receipts/PithHelmet.pkg
- Macintosh HD/Library/Receipts/DuctTape.pkg
- Macintosh HD/Library/Frameworks/Ducttape.framework
- Start Safari...and....you are good to GO.
The same technique should be used to uninstall other plugins. "Concierge" - the bookmark manager and "AcidSearch" - the search enhancement software may be other plugins for Safari crash.
Hope this would help and solve your Safari crash issues.
