Ack!! HELP!!

We just came back from a power outage here and my firefox has reverted back to it's original form as if it were just installed!

All of my settings are gone, all of my plug-ins and extensions are gone; and worst of all, my hundreds of bookmarks are all gone!!!

Zero, zilch, nothing is left.

I want to pull my hair out and stick nails in my eyes!!! arrrrgh!!!!

Anybody know how to get firefox to restore everything?
Do I have to start over?

Tell me I can recover this! PLEASE!!

AND WTF JUST HAPPENED!!!!! It was a simple power outage!!!


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I don't know if this will work but you could try systems restore.

Trying a system restore is a good idea. It usually only restores registry stuff and bookmarks aren't held in the registry but there might be a pointer to them.

If it works, or ether way, once you are back to normal use this addonto back up firefox

Good luck

Thanks

I just tried that and it tells me that it can't restore to yesterday (for example) since there have been no changes to my computer. This is probable for new hardware/software installations or maybe windows settings etc.

I can't believe that a power outage can wipe your browser (or any other program) clean like that. :shk:

I'm really pissed right now.
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Originally posted by Gools
Thanks

I just tried that and it tells me that it can't restore to yesterday (for example) since there have been no changes to my computer. This is probable for new hardware/software installations or maybe windows settings etc.

I can't believe that a power outage can wipe your browser (or any other program) clean like that. :shk:

I'm really pissed right now.
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Did you try another day besides yesterday. When was the last time you completely shutdown your computer? turned it off. You should have a restore point there.

Originally posted by x-phile
... once you are back to normal use this addon to back up firefox

Oh sure... now I learn about this! :bnghd:



Thanks though!
Definitely going to install that over the weekend when I solve this or get things set the way I like again.
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Originally posted by x-phile
When was the last time you completely shutdown your computer? turned it off. You should have a restore point there.

Thanks for the suggestion. I went back two weeks just prior to when I left for the weekend when I know I shut down. No go. It's not that I have no restore points it's that it tells me there were no changes.

Oh well.

Unless someone comes along with some other ideas I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend. :bnghd:


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Your settings aren't gone but the profile has changed. Restore your system back to what it was before running system restore (if that option still exists), then run the following command from the start menu:

firefox.exe -ProfileManager

You should get an option to choose the different profiles. Choose the first one in the list.

By the way, I wouldn't recommend system restore for anything... a lot of times viruses like to hide in there.

Edit: Here's a direct link to Mozilla's Tech support on profiles if my instructions are somewhat vague:

How To Manage Profiles

[edit on 16-11-2007 by Beachcoma]

Thanks Beachcoma.

I think the solution is in there somewhere. I did find the path to my profile and there are files called bookmark.bak, I see my search engine plug-ins and I see some settings files etc.

They all seem to be there but non-functional.

I gotta go, but I'll be back tomorrow to try and figure this stuff out.
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reply to post by Gools


No problem

Let us know how it turns out.

Originally posted by x-phile
If it works, or ether way, once you are back to normal use this addonto back up firefox

Okay, I installed this addon, but can't figure out how to set it up

Any suggestions, besides

EDIT:
Nevermind, I found the toolbar icon and added it to my toolbar, so I'm good to go.

[edit on 16-11-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by Gools
Thanks Beachcoma.

I think the solution is in there somewhere. I did find the path to my profile and there are files called bookmark.bak, I see my search engine plug-ins and I see some settings files etc.

They all seem to be there but non-functional.

I gotta go, but I'll be back tomorrow to try and figure this stuff out.

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Copy the file bookmark.bak to your desktop and rename it to bookmark.htm. Then go to FILE and IMPORT and EXPORT and select import favorites and then point it to the bookmark.htm on your desktop. That will restore your favorites.

Importing the backup file from the profile folder worked.

I did have to make the Applications folder visible first because it was a hidden system file and did not want to come up in the import window at first, but eventually it all worked out.

Plug-ins and extensions have been re-installed and other aspects can be recovered over time but the most important is done. phew!

Thanks for the help everyone!
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That's one hell of a power outage

I had a power outage a few weeks ago and it didn't touch Firefox.

I won't even pretend to understand why exactly it wiped out your bookmarks.

It was said earlier, but I'll re-iterate it - system restore sucks Only use it for major viruses and what not.

But, glad to see you got your stuff back Losing all of that is a real pain in the ass, and is enough to almost make you sick if you got a lot of good stuff saved:shk:

Originally posted by NovusOrdoMundi
Only use it for major viruses and what not.

Actually, that's is when you really should not use it. Virus codes these days are advanced enough to infiltrate itself into the system restore checkpoint files. What would happen is your computer will become even more hopelessly infected as the system restore program "restores" viruses after you've cleaned them out.

Oh no, don't use system restore. It's like a vaccine that causes illness instead of protecting against it.

reply to post by Beachcoma


Ah I see

I guess you could always just get rid of Windows I hear Linux is more secure and it's free.

Originally posted by Beachcoma

Originally posted by NovusOrdoMundi
Only use it for major viruses and what not.

What would happen is your computer will become even more hopelessly infected as the system restore program "restores" viruses after you've cleaned them out.

That's why you turn off system restore once you've cleaned your system of the malware/virus thereby removing all the restore points. Then turn it back on. From that point forward you can safely restore. System restore is a very valuable tool for people that experience non-lethal application corruption.

reply to post by x-phile


From my own personal experiences that doesn't work either. It can still be infiltrated even after it's been cleared out, either through your method or manually. As a result I turn it off completely and rely on other backup techniques.

Sometimes I do experiments on one of my machines by purposely infecting it, to see what works and what doesn't. I can assure you with 110% confidence that Microsoft System Restore doesn't work as well as advertised.