Safari....pages loading dreadfully slow

There aren't any viruses in the wild for OSX, so that's not the problem. What are the URLs that are loading slowly? I find that sites with lots of Flash stuff are problematic, as are the ones with linked advertising. Have you tried any other browser to see if it's the site?

Thanks for the comeback Jakerich. This is one of the sites that was loading slow, it took 2 minutes to bring up this page. There were other sites like Clearcheckbook and Facebook also that took forever. I'll call Centurylink and ask if they're having a problem. Maybe I should try Google Chrome also. I tried that browser briefly a month ago, but I couldn't get used to the clutter on it and quit it. They had a lot of promotional ads crammed into it that need flushing.

Did you try clearing the Cache in Safari? Also try Firefox and see if the same slow loading sites are the same there.

This site is loading quickly for me, so it's not the site. Did clearing the cache make it better?

You might also want to take a look at what addresses you're using for DNS. Some ISPs use their own proprietary DNS addresses which are slower than the ones that are open to the public. OpenDNS and Google both have public DNS addresses which you can try.

Be careful with extensions too. Just as in Firefox, your extensions and third-party plug ins can weigh down the performance of your Safari browser. I've heard Ad Block in particular is pretty notorious for this, but maybe it's been properly updated since then.

If this happens to you again or on other pages, checking this out may be helpful:
Safari: Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

I'm still pretty green on the iMac, so I'll have to figure out how to clear the cache in Safari.
Update.....just cleared the cache, I'll see how it does now. By clearing the cache, is that just deleting history?

History and cache are two separate things.

Deleting the cache is absolutely safe.

Click on Safari on the Menu bar and then select Empty Cache.

(you really need to spend a little time going through the menus in the apps you use all the time to get a general feel for what's there)

Safari8.0 and Yosemite - slow loading web pages

This forum is so useful helping point to potential solutions!! My iMac was crawling along loading web pages and I feared the highly technical solutions suggested elsewhere. The solution which worked was so simple - select DEVELOP and EMPTY CACHES - now I have S..P..E..E..D!!!!!