Home Forums Networks & Cross-Platform Networking Running Safari in 32-bit mode & PithHelmet

For years I have been a happy user of PithHelmet . Alas, it does not (yet) officially work with Snow Leopard. From the developer’s site is a comment that PH largely works, but not fully, when/if running Safari in 32 bit mode.

So I gave it a go. Did a Get Info on Safari, changed it to "Open In 32-bit mode" and voila! All is dandy and again right with the world. Well, or so I think…

While Safari is now “operating” slower, because all the advertising junk is not loading on the pages I visit, I detect no (apparent) slowdown. How much of this is a consequence of my machine’s capabilities/configuration, I dunno.

It’s still early in my testing/evaluation process, so things could change.

But for now, any feedback, thoughts regarding pitfalls, etc. is greatly appreciated.

Two weeks later and I have detected no problems when running Safari in 32-bit mode. As for me, I find the advantage of using it this way far outweights the benefit of running a 64-bit Safari. If anything, Safari seems faster-

A lot will depend on (a) how much memory you have in your computer and (b) how you use Safari.

The biggest advantage of 64-bit addressing is that it allows your compute to use more than 4 GB of RAM, the limit for 32-bit systems. If you don't have more than 4 GB of RAM installed in your system, then it'll make no difference.

If you *do* have more than 4 GB of RAM, then whether or not Safari will be any different depending on if it's run in 32-bit mode or 64-bit mode depends on how you use Safari. A program must be written for 64-bit addressing and running in 64-bit mode in order to use more than 4 GB of RAM itself; that is, if you install 8 GB of RAM but run 32-bit progams, those programs will only be able to use 4 GB of your 8 GB.

Is that a big limitation? If you only have a few windows in Safari open at once and you quit Safari when you're done, no.

If you use Safari like I do (I typically will leave it running for months at a time without quitting it, and at any given time I probably have 30 or 40 Web pages open in Safari), then it might. My Safari tends to slow to a crawl, because I only have 3 GB of RAM in my computer--if I were to install more RAM and run 64-bit Safari, my system would likely be significantly faster.

Ah, that it explains it!

I have (only) 4 GB RAM and seldom have more than a few pages open at the same time. Also, I quit Safari at least once daily.

If I understand correctly, even when new a new SL PithHelmet gets released, I will see no difference/improvement.

Thanks for your help/explanation Tacit.