Very slow browser loading (Safari, Chrome, and Firefox)

Hello!

Apologies if this is not the appropriate forum; if it isn't could you please suggest an appropriate topic?

I have a mid 2009 13' MacBook Pro. (Specs will follow in an EtreCheck report.)

The MBP runs beautifully. Program open, respond, and close quickly. Startup and shutdown are smooth and do no take an inordinate amount of time. Loading webpages is another story. I've tried using three different broswers (Safari, Chrome, and Firefox) and the results are all the same. I tried resetting (back to factory defaults at one point) the modem and the Airport Express (I've also tried automatic channel selection and randomly picking different channels), but there was no effect. I've added 4 DNS addresses, switching up the order, and frequently renewing the DHCP lease - also no effect. I uninstalled Chrome and Firefox, still no effect. Clean installs of Chrome and Firefox... no effect. (This happens whether I have one tab open or many.)

I have a suspicion it's not my internet connection for a couple reasons: download speeds are what they should be (around 25mbps) when the page decides to load; my iPhone 4s and iPad2 (just WiFi, no 3G) work perfectly - no complaints; I also have an "ancient" Toshiba that loads webpages faster.

I don't know if this is on anyone's mind, but my modem and Airport Express are centrally located and not more than one room away.

Any ideas on what's going on and what I can do to attempt to resolve this?

Thanks for reading, adding the report from EtreCheck (please let me know if any more information is required).

One note on the report: I know I'm running Java 6 (not 7); it doesn't work with Chrome.

Hardware Information:
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5
1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2 cores
8 GB RAM

Video Information:
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

System Software:
OS X 10.9.1 (13B42) - Uptime: 0 days 1:14:13

Disk Information:
WDC WD5000BPKT-00PK4T0 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted>: 209.7 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (344.57 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted>: 650 MB

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N

USB Information:
Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

FireWire Information:

Thunderbolt Information:

Kernel Extensions:
com.squirrels.driver.AirParrotSpeakers (1.7 - SDK 10.7)
com.squirrels.airparrot.framebuffer (3 - SDK 10.7)

Launch Daemons:
[System] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist 3rd-Party support link
[System] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist 3rd-Party support link
[System] com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist 3rd-Party support link

User Login Items:
None

Internet Plug-ins:
Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 3.2.0.16 - SDK 10.8 3rd-Party support link
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
Default Browser: Version: 537 - SDK 10.9
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.9 3rd-Party support link
DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.1 3rd-Party support link
Flash Player: Version: 12.0.0.70 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
Unity Web Player: Version: UnityPlayer version 3.4.2f3 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 3rd-Party support link
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 14.8.0 - SDK 10.9 Outdated! Update

Safari Extensions:
DivX Plus Web Player HTML5 <video>: Version: 2.1.2.126

Audio Plug-ins:
BluetoothAudioPlugIn: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.9
AirPlay: Version: 1.9 - SDK 10.9
AppleAVBAudio: Version: 2.0.0 - SDK 10.9
iSightAudio: Version: 7.7.3 - SDK 10.9

iTunes Plug-ins:
Quartz Composer Visualizer: Version: 1.4 - SDK 10.9

User Internet Plug-ins:
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.0 3rd-Party support link

3rd Party Preference Panes:
Fan Control 3rd-Party support link
Flash Player 3rd-Party support link
Flip4Mac WMV 3rd-Party support link
Perian 3rd-Party support link

Old Applications:
/Users/[redacted]/Library/Application Support/Helper
Wondershare Helper Compact: Version: 2.2.6.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
iSkysoft Helper Compact: Version: 2.2.6.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Aimersoft Helper Compact: Version: 2.2.6.4 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0
Microsoft Error Reporting: Version: 2.2.8 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Ship Asserts: Version: 1.1.3 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
SLLauncher: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Silverlight/OutOfBrowser/SLLauncher.app
Solver: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office/Add-Ins/Solver.app
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office
Microsoft Graph: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Database Utility: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Office Reminders: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Upload Center: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
My Day: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
SyncServicesAgent: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Open XML for Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Alerts Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Database Daemon: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Chart Converter: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Clip Gallery: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011
Microsoft PowerPoint: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Excel: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Outlook: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Word: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Document Connection: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft Language Register: Version: 14.3.9 - SDK 10.5 3rd-Party support link
/Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools/Microsoft Language Register/Microsoft Language Register.app
/Users/[redacted]/Library/WinOnX/default/Administrative Tools
Control Panel: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Regedit: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
System Setup: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Software: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
/Users/[redacted]/Library/WinOnX/default/More Applications
Notepad: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
DOS Prompt: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Wordpad: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
autorun 2: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Autorun: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Clock: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Explorer: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Lite: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Minefield: Version: 2.6.0 - SDK 10.0 3rd-Party support link
Microsoft AutoUpdate: Version: 2.3.6 - SDK 10.4 3rd-Party support link
/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app

Time Machine:
Skip System Files: NO
Auto backup: NO - Auto backup turned off
Time Machine not configured!

Top Processes by CPU:
3% WindowServer
2% EtreCheck
1% mds
0% Google Chrome
0% FanControlDaemon

Top Processes by Memory:
172 MB mds_stores
172 MB Google Chrome
139 MB com.apple.IconServicesAgent
74 MB Finder
33 MB mds

Virtual Memory Information:
5.24 GB Free RAM
1.33 GB Active RAM
566 MB Inactive RAM
642 MB Wired RAM
1.20 GB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs

First, there's no need to include the long report since the information you supplied initially will suffice to help trouble shoot the problem.

Slow loading web pages usually means a DNS problem or a local cache problem. And since the slowness is happening with three different web browsers, it points more to DNS. Try emptying your history and browsing cache first to see if that speeds things up. It easy enough to do with the browsers you're using. You can also download the free OnyX maintenance and optimization tool from here. After you download it, right click on the file and select open, otherwise the Mavericks GateKeeper will not allow you to install it. Run OnyX in automatic mode.

Let us know what DNS addresses you're using. You really only need a primary and secondary, no need for four.

Thanks for the reply, chscag.

Um... actually I have 6 DNS addresses (Apple's primary and secondary, Google's primary and secondary, as well as the primary and secondary DNS addresses from my internet provider - in that order). When I added and reordered the addresses, I did see a slight improvement in the loading times, but it's still not anywhere near as quick as it should be (we're talking dial-up speed and I have turbo broadband).

I regularly clear my caches and history (that was one of the first things I did when I noticed the slow down). I would prefer not to download a third party maintenance program (is there really anything that it would tell me that I couldn't run or do on my own with the disk utility or running fsck-fy in verbose mode?). I used EtreCheck as I thought it might make a nicer presentation of possibly necessary info for anyone who might be able to decipher it.

I've run the permissions repair, verified the disk (it's "okay") and just this evening booted in safe mode to make sure there weren't any programs in my login items (under system preferences) or in the ~Startup folder(s) in my library. I ran another EtreCheck while in safe mode, but I won't post unless asked.

Is this info any more help or does it help to narrow down what's going on?

As I said above, it appears to be DNS related. I would remove all the DNS addresses except for the two from Google. And if there is also a DNS choice that you can make from your router, do the same there.

As for OnyX, it's up to you. The program is free and does a much better job of cleaning caches than you or I could do manually.

I have a very fast FIOS broadband connection but had to remove the DNS server addresses that Verizon provides because they were not as fast as the Google or OpenDNS servers. The strange thing is that Windows got along just fine with the Verizon DNS server addresses but OS X did not.

I booted in recovery mode and ran the permission verify/repair and verified the disk (all checked out good) for each of the volumes.

I didn't re-install Mavericks because I re-installed it a couple days before initially posting the question.

Even though I ran the disk utility (in normal boot) and did an fsck- fy in verbose mode, this seemed to have helped. (Just wanted to let you know what potentially remedied my issue and to thank you for your help!)

Slow browser experience

Very similar issue for me. Found this somewhere and it did the trick. Definitely worth trying before reinstalling or going too crazy on new hardware.

Delete all files out of Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and for OSX to reset/rebuild all the networking preferences. Restart.