New Firefox, all add ons and bookmarks gone

macx

Posts: 720   +3
Turned on my computer this afternoon, apparently Firefox forced a new version on me.

Now all my add ons and even my bookmarks are gone!! HUNDREDS of them!!

What can I do to get my bookmarks and my bookmark toolbar back - ?
I looked in View and the bookmark toolbar is checked but there's nothing in it.

WHY do they have to screw around with something that works?!! I am NOT a 20 something
techno geek, I'm a 70 year old retiree who doesn't want to learn a new system every few months
and have to spend a long frustrating time setting everything up again!!

Can I go back to a previous version and get my old Firefox back?

Thanks!

About another half hour of this frustration crap and I'm finally giving up on Firefox and going
to chrome or something.


UPDATE: Found out where Firefox backs up bookmarks, but it's in a JSONLZ4 compressed file that I can't open so can't import them into Bookmarks Manager.
 
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UPDATE: Found out where Firefox backs up bookmarks, but it's in a JSONLZ4 compressed file that I can't open so can't import them into Bookmarks Manager.
Click on the Bookmarks button or link. From the drop down menu click on Show All Bookmarks. Click on Import and Backup. Hover or click on Restore. From the drop down list select a known good backup date or click on Choose a File and navigate to the desired .json backup file.

You can use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + B to get to Import and Backup if you want.
 
I tried that and selected the backup file and OK'd, but it didn't import anything.

Other places I've read said to open that backup file with Firefox, being it's a Firefox proprietary compressed file,
and then I should be able to import it.

I got Firefox added to my Open With list, but all it does is save another copy to Downloads and won't open it.

If it was a plain non-compressed .json file I guess it would work that way, but it's not so I'm still stuck.
If I could find a way to open the backup compressed jsonlz4 file then it appears I could import them.
 
You might try using System Restore to a point before Firefox was updated. Keep in mind that any other application installs or updates will be undone also. If the results aren't to your liking, you can always undo the restore.
 
You might try using System Restore to a point before Firefox was updated. Keep in mind that any other application installs or updates will be undone also. If the results aren't to your liking, you can always undo the restore.
You might try using System Restore to a point before Firefox was updated. Keep in mind that any other application installs or updates will be undone also. If the results aren't to your liking, you can always undo the restore.
I

I've tried System Restore twice and it fails, suggesting there may be an AV open or something like that. I had turned off all security programs and the second time also disabled all the FF add ons and it still failed, same reason given.

what to do?
 
A Firefox update shouldn't cause this kind of problem. Although I set my Firefox updates to manual only, I keep mine up to date reasonably consistently and I never had any such problem. You might have picked up some malware. If you haven't already, maybe you should run your AV program and head on over to the Virus and Malware Removal forum.
 
I do keep my security apps current and running. They include
AdAware, IOBit Malware Fighter, Malwarebytes home premium,
and Zone Alarm firewall.

I have scanned with all the AV's and anti malware and found nothing.

I did several hours of research last nite and found that this exact thing
is not uncommon.

What leads me o believe it's a FF update is the fact that all my FF
add ons disappeared along with the bookmarks and history.
As well as the fact that when I logged on at the time the problem
started, I was shown a FF home page with the big search bar
in the center rather than my usual Yahoo home page.
 
Well, I'm out of suggestions at the moment so in your research did you discover any fixes? If so, did you try any?
 
LoL yes and no. Several places said to go into my FF profile (and they showed me how to find it) and go into the
sub folder bookmark backups. There were about a half dozen of the most recent auto bookmark backups in there,
but they were that compressed FF proprietary file, not the uncompressed type.

I could copy it to my desktop as suggested, but I couldn't open it with anything, not even FF as was instructed.
The idea being that if it would open and be readable (I.e. HTML) it then could be imported via Bookmark Mgr.

So I tried system restore but failed twice even tho I turned off all the FF add ons and all my security stuff.
I'm done fighting with it tonite, tomorrow nite I'll rejoin the struggle.
 
A number of problems began when I was upgraded to FireFox 49.0.1. All my Yahoo bookmarks and history disappeared, and Yahoo email won't attach anything. I found the backup bookmarks folder in my FF profiles, but it's a compressed FF file and even FF won't open it so I can import those bookmarks back into Yahoo home page, altho that's what I was told should happen. It seems this new FF isn't compatible with Yahoo,
at least not yet.

I then tried to restore, but that has failed twice, telling me I must have an AV open. I had closed all my security apps for the first try, and then even disabled all my FF add ons and it still failed, giving me the same message.

I'd much prefer to restore back to my previous FF understanding that's probly the best chance for all my bookmarks etc to reappear. If I read correctly, restoring in Safe Mode is dangerous because restore then can't restore the current setup if something goes wrong during the restore attempt.

I've scanned with MalwareBytes premium, AdAware, and IOBit Malware Fighter, and everything is reported clean.

Is my only option to download the previous FF (48.?.?") and uninstall my new FF 49.0.1? I'm worried about
that not being as likely to allow my Yahoo bookmarks to restore.

BTW, I've gone to the Yahoo site where I read I could also get a copy of my bookmarks, but was just run around in circles and never was able to find where to do that. One person had commented he actually spoke to a Yahoo engineer who sent him his bookmarks file, but of course didn't post the phone number. And I can't find the Yahoo phone number anywhere. Their website is about as helpful as the FF website, all kinds of FAQ's and answers but nothing addressing any of these situations, even tho a search turned up a lot of folks with the same problem.

Sure appreciate any help, either with the restore problem, or with a Yahoo phone number.
 
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