My ipad 2 has suddenly started going to the desktop version of google. Instead of the mobile version. When I google something a screen appears for a split second saying please click here if you're not redirected in a few seconds then the full desktop site appears with the google results. If I go on youtube it takes me to the youtube mobile site but the page stays white apart from the youtube app banner advert across the top. Other sites I've been on appear normal. I've not done any updates and I'm still on iOS 6. Has my browser been hijacked or have got some kind of malware on here? It isn't jail broken either.

Problem solved! Turns out I'd accidentally switched off JavaScript. If anyone does read this and can answer, would you recommend iOS 8 for and ipad 2?

I've got one and didn't upgrade to 8.0 due to the horror stories. Might be ok now but I'll not risk it, the wife uses it now since she bought me an air 2

I've not heard many good things either which is why I haven't upgraded but the same was said with iOS 7 too but that seemed to stabilise. I wish I'd upgraded to that now.

i have an ipad air and recently its slower than my 10 yr old computer which i am using now because my ipad / safari is freezing and going so slow its unusable. its been slow at certain times like evenings but last week or two its ridiculous. i wish id never bought it and will probably have to buy a laptop and put the ipad in storage if this continues.

i have done the things they say like get rid of cookies and reset the wi fi but its just slower than my old computer. now im wondering if its the bt hub / router im using that might not be compatible with ipad

Whatever version of iOS I use on my iPad Safari has always been crap. Websites fail to load first time, often the progress bar freezes until you hit the refresh button and sites that just fail to load images.

Newspaper sites seem to be the worst, the Daily Telegraph site never loads first time unless I turn off Javascript then most websites load fine.

Safari in iOS 7 was pretty bad, but otherwise I've always had a good experience.

Yes it was a dog in 7 why I decided to give 8 a go, but Safari is still dog poo.

Used iPad 2, 4 and now Air and Mini and never had problems with Safari itself. Most problems with slow loading are due to the advertising on the websites, some are far worse than others. Try using an ad blocker or VPN. Slow loading in the evening is more likely down to your connection especially if on ADSL.

I read on a site that was comparing this very issue. It concluded that for an I Pad 2, it wasn't of any real benefit to upgrade.

When I first got iOS 8 on my iPad 2 it was noticeably slower than before. However on the later versions, I now have 8.3, it runs just fine. Pages with lots of ads can slow Safari down, but where it is available I make good use of 'reader view' which cuts the ads and speeds up pages no end.