Repeated freezes in Safari (spinning beach ball): Check for problematic contextual menu plug-ins

The causes for an issue where Safari experiences repeated freezes (typified by an indefinite spinning beachball progress indicator) are many, and include an problem with lookupd, corrupt .plist files and more.

However, if you are experiencing repeated freezes directly after right-clicking or control-clicking on items in a given page (thereby accessing the contextual menu), a problematic contextual plug-in may be to blame.

Check the following folders:

• ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/
• /Library/Contextual Menu Items/

for recently added third-party items that could be causing the problem. Try temporarily removing them, then logging out and back in (or restarting) and check for persistence of the freeze.

For further coverage, see our Safari product page.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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