Speed up Safari start-up

Safari is a great browser but as you might have experienced, it starts up slower and slower as time goes by. There is a simple reason for it. The little favicons associated with the web sites that you visit are stored in a folder, so that they can appear in your bookmark list and give you an easier overview of the titles. Once you have dozens of such little site icons, the start-up takes longer, because Safari has to load all the little icons.

If you don't mind loosing the little icons associated with your bookmarks and want a snappier Safari, you need to empty the favicons folder and lock it, so Safari wouldn't be able to save any more of those in there.

Quit Safari, and locate yourusername/Library/Safari/Icons folder and empty it's contents. Now select the folder and press Apple-I (or otherwise Command-I). Now open the Ownership & Permissions section and change the Access to No Access for all users. You might need to click the little lock icon and enter your password before making changes to the Access settings. Start Safari and enjoy the speed of a virgin Safari installation.