Windows XP forum: Mozilla fox fire browser and System restore trouble

Thanks for the info. I am sorry to learn that System Restore is not reliable as I thought it was. I need to find a back up program that will let me restore my pc when unexpected glitches happen.

All of your bookmarks are stored in a single file, bookmarks.html, with the backup being bookmarks.bak. Both files are stored in your Firefox profile folders, which for Windows XP is 'C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\random characters.default''.

I'd check that location for the files, then copy and paste them to a safe location. Afterwards, delete the profile folder and reinstall Firefox. (For full instructions, click here.)

On the System Restore front, it can be unstable at times...I use it, but don't rely on it. For a good System Restore troubleshooter, click here. Just note that your Firefox bookmarks are not covered by System Restore, so that utility won't recover your bookmarks if they are in fact lost.

Hope this helps,
John

First, it's Firefox, not Foxfire...the latter is a fairly common misconception that will not produce the results you want if you perform an internet search for support.

Second, "random characters" is just that...a set of randomly-generated characters. For you that is "rzihjmcz," but it varies for everyone. (It's done as a security precaution.) Thus, you found the proper location.

Third, if the two bookmarks files are not there, then something really nasty happened...what link did you click on? (It may have been malicious.) Normally you'd have around 40 objects in your profile directory, including bookmarks.html and bookmarks.bak.

Fourth, do you happen to have a "Backups" or "bookmarksbackups" folder in your profile folder? Starting with Firefox 1.5, daily backups of your bookmarks are created and stored in one of those two folders. (I can't remember which off hand.) If so, grab the most recent backup from there and rename it bookmarks (delete the date).

Fifth, I wouldn't jump out of the boat just yet, as Firefox is a better browser than IE and it's still unknown whether or not Firefox was at fault. The same thing could have happened to IE, which doesn't create backups of your favorites.

Hope this helps,
John

the front of this post I was going to suggest Erunt, if Glenlee had not done so for me. I swear by this, as it is 100% reliable. Also, if the first poster wishes to stay with Firefox he might like to use ' Moz backup': http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/, which I guess is the Firefox equivalent of 'Erunt'.

ERUNT works like a charm if you can boot into Windows, or at least get to Windows safe mode (F8 during boot). If you are locked out of safe mode, you need a boot disc. ERUNT documentation points you to a wonderful free utility called BartPE (Bart's Preinstalled Environment) This free utility allows you to burn a startup cd/dvd that utilizes the files in your Windows system to boot to a Windows environment from disc, with full access to FAT and NTFS drives, CD/DVD drives. (Beats Knoppix which is a Linux environment) Thus you can re-install a good version of the registry even if locked out of Windows. Get BartPE 3.1.10a here:

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/