Will updating the browser damage software

[Michelle7]

Hi everyone,
I have been using my Mac with Adobe design software for quite a few years and my Chrome is out of date. Some years ago I was told that updating the browser may cause problems for my software and stopped updating for some time as I have a lot of software I want to look after. It would be good to update it though.
I wondered if anyone has an opinion or has updated chrome or safari and have software and have not noticed any issues.
Thanks.

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums.

Safari is updated along with macOS so it depends on which version of macOS you're currently using. We really need some specs on your system before we can provide answers. Which Mac do you have (year and model) and what version of macOS are you running?

Chrome can be updated but again, it depends on which version of macOS you're running?

Updating your browser should not have any effect on the software you're using.

 

[Michelle7]

Welcome to our forums.

Safari is updated along with macOS so it depends on which version of macOS you're currently using. We really need some specs on your system before we can provide answers. Which Mac do you have (year and model) and what version of macOS are you running?

Chrome can be updated but again, it depends on which version of macOS you're running?

Updating your browser should not have any effect on the software you're using.

Hi and thank you for your reply,

I am using Version 10.6.8, have had this mac for awhile. I think I was recommended not to update the operating system as it would affect my software and became cautious of updating the browser also.

 

[krs]

Hi and thank you for your reply,

I am using Version 10.6.8, have had this mac for awhile. I think I was recommended not to update the operating system as it would affect my software and became cautious of updating the browser also.

We also need to know exactly which Mac hardware you have, model and year.
You will find that under the Apple (top left) and then "About This Mac"
10.6.8 is the software version.

 

[Michelle7]

We also need to know exactly which Mac hardware you have, model and year.
You will find that under the Apple (top left) and then "About This Mac"
10.6.8 is the software version.

I have
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac9,1

Cannot see the year but purchased approximately 10 years ago.

 

[krs]

I have
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac9,1

Cannot see the year but purchased approximately 10 years ago.

That's a 2009 model.
You can upgrade that iMac to macOS 10.11.x, El Capitan

I ran El Capitan on a numer of Macs for a while - I think that is a good, solid macOS

However, version 10.6.8 which you are running now is the last macOS that supports Power PC applications.
You should make sure you don't have any of those that you absolutely need.

To find Power PC (PPC) applications on your iMac,
Bring up System Profiler - In the left sidebar choose Applications under the Software section and sort by the Kind column. Now just find the applications that are PowerPC.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I am using Version 10.6.8, have had this mac for awhile. I think I was recommended not to update the operating system as it would affect my software and became cautious of updating the browser also.

Macintosh OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) was the very last version of the Mac OS that was backward compatible with software written for the older PowerPC-based Macs. So, if you upgrade the OS on your Mac, any software that you have that was written for PowerPC will cease to operate and have to be replaced.

I, personally, have an old iMac in my office running OS X 10.6.8, specifically to run a couple of legacy apps that never made it past 10.6.8, and which I find invaluable.

So, it's true that if you update past 10.6.8 you are likely to lose some software and you are likely to have to pay to replace some of that software. If that software is Adobe software, it will likely cost a LOT of money to replace. (There are pretty nice substitutes for Adobe software that are much more reasonably priced, such as the products from Affinity, but they aren't worth talking about right now unless you decide to move to a MUCH more modern Mac and Mac OS.)

With regard to your Web browser, the news is a bit better. First, you are in no danger of losing anything if you upgrade to a better browser. You might not be able to easily transfer over your bookmarks from the old browser, but if you had to you could do it manually. You could easily run both browsers simultaneously to facilitate that.

The old version of Safari, which came with your Mac, is no longer stable, it's badly outdated, and it can't be updated because the version of Safari you could run back then was tied to the version of the OS you were using.

You can't update to a browser for OS X 10.6 that is perfectly modern, but you can get pretty close.

Personally I've switched to Firefox version 48.0.2 (an older, still available version) as the default browser on my old iMac running OS X 10.6.8. You can download that older version of Firefox for free from here:
Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/48.0.2/
This version is quite modern. It's not 100% like a modern browser, but for the overwhelming number of sites that you might visit, it will do a good job.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Randy's post is pretty much spot-on. Updating your browser shouldn't have any impact on Adobe's software, and unless Adobe themselves said that, I wouldn't be concerned about it. As others pointed out, it's the version of OS X (now known as macOS) that is what you have to be worried about, and I suspect that's what whoever told you not to update the browser was actually thinking of. Not keeping up to date on your web browser is very much a bad idea.

 

[Michelle7]

Hi , thank you for peoples feedback. I have been trying to update my browser and tried the recommended firefox versions but there are some important websites I need and cannot get them to load. Can anyone recommend another browser that I may operate on a 10.6.8 as I cannot update this operating system for concern of loosing adobe software.
Thank you

 

[krs]

Whenever Firefox doesn't work for me, I switch to Google Chrome.
That has so far worked every time where Firefox failed for some reason.
But I use Chrome only for that problem site and switch back to Firefox for my day-to-day browsing.

BTW - Whenever Firefox does not work, that may well be the website, not necessarily Firefox.
I find even commercial websites often have issues - some web developers are not very competent and many it seems never test their sites with the most common browsers.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Whenever Firefox doesn't work for me, I switch to Google Chrome.

You are replying to a thread where the original poster stated that she is running OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and that she isn't interested in updating her OS.

There is no version of the Chrome browser that runs under OS X 10.6.

The only browser that I know of that still runs under OS X 10.6, other than the recommended older version of Firefox, is an older version of iCab (version 5.2).

iCab - Downloads