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How did I just lost my History and Bookmarks without me doing it?

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  • 1 has this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by MGPfls

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It was another day having my Browser up and then as I clicked on the Bookmarks (All Gone) also my History (All Gone) I didn't do anything. I tried to look for my Profile and backup. Not there either. What in the ? Happened to it?

It was another day having my Browser up and then as I clicked on the Bookmarks (All Gone) also my History (All Gone) I didn't do anything. I tried to look for my Profile and backup. Not there either. What in the ? Happened to it?

All Replies (20)

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I believe I got an Up-Date to my Windows 7 (Am I assuming Microsoft is still trying to implement what Windows 10 would do by not having a Browser have Saved History and Bookmarks?) Every time now I saved something as a Bookmark or History, when the Browser is Brought up again ... Everything is gone and as I go to (Restore) it doesn't work. I see No Old Firefox on my Desktop (Sorry) But nothing is acting Normal

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Nothing Windows updates can do should do anything to your profile.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-to-fix-preferences-wont-save

Note: Some software, like Advanced SystemCare with Surfing Protection, can protect files in the Firefox profile folder against changes. If you have such software then check the settings or uninstall this software.

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I had my Browser for quite awhile (Months and Years) with your only auto-matic Up-Dates. I actually yesterday didn't notice any auto-matic Up-Date for my Browser. This just happen after visiting a new web site ... "Big Know com" from AARP my UnitedHealthcare was suggesting me to join. Everything about it looked Legit to me as I have that going with them. I Registered on that site. I did a Malwarebytes scan with my Program (I have) The Program found nothing. I did a Anti-Virus with my McAfee it found nothing. My Programs showed I was "All Good" I don't know about this "Advanced SystemCare" I don't recall or find it in my Browser. So? The Mystery is still Haunting me. I like to know what is going on?

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Can you provide a public link to that site?

I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.

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The Advanced SystemCare should be blocked in the browser if you do not have blocklist turned on in Firefox (it is by default)

FredMcD is correct here in preferences that do not save. Check if your user.js file is locking one of these preferences:

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Are there any compressed .jsonlz4 backups in the bookmarkbackups folder?

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

You can check for problems with the places.sqlite database file (bookmarks, history) in the Firefox profile folder.

If the Places Maintenance extension can't repair the places.sqlite database file then remove all places.sqlite file(s) in the Firefox profile folder to make Firefox rebuild the places.sqlite database file from the most recent JSON backup in the bookmarkbackups folder.

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FredMcD said

Can you provide a public link to that site? I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.

Do you mean this? https://www.thebigknow.com/  ?

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guigs said

The Advanced SystemCare should be blocked in the browser if you do not have blocklist turned on in Firefox (it is by default) FredMcD is correct here in preferences that do not save. Check if your user.js file is locking one of these preferences:

First off? I do not see this listed in my Add-On List. Other than that I am lost where to find Advanced SystemCare. It almost looks like I don't have it, if I don't know where to look for it.

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What I did notice in my Add-On is a vulnerable notice about my JAVA Development Toolkit. I made a screen shot of this and is there away to make sense of this?

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I went into my Profile Folder Bookmarks JSONLZ4 Files I have. Not sure what I do from here, but here is a Screen Shot

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Those are such some things to check for common issues. If you do not have this software then you can ignore this.


If both history and bookmarks were affected then it is likely that there has been a problem with the places.sqlite or there might have been a new profile created and personal data from the old profile has failed to get imported.

If a new profile got created then you would either have an "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop or you would see multiple profile in the default location used for profiles.

  • C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile>\

Did you look in the bookmarkbackups folder if there are backups present?

  • Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks > Import & Backup > Restore
  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item-count>_<hash>.jsonlz4
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Sorry, I missed your last reply.

form that screenshot I see that only the last backup doesn't have your bookmarks. All older backup have 138 bookmark items as you can see in their names.

  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item-count>_<hash>.jsonlz4

Restoring such a backup should give you back the bookmarks that are in this backup.

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cor-el said

Sorry, I missed your last reply. form that screenshot I see that only the last backup doesn't have your bookmarks. All older backup have 138 bookmark items as you can see in their names.
  • bookmarks-YYYY-MM-DD_<item-count>_<hash>.jsonlz4
Restoring such a backup should give you back the bookmarks that are in this backup.

Would this work if I Refreshed my Browser? From the Tool Bar I tried a [ Restore ] Selected a few of the older folders and Got: [ Can't Restore or something like that ] So I don't know what is causing that either?

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I went here earlier today and tried going to the back-up Restore my list I got and got [ Can't Restore This ] Why? My History shows same thing. I only have my Original and only 1 Profile. I do not have an Old One.

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That doesn't look good. All three of the root folders miss their proper name.

Try to restore an older copy and try to restore the oldest from Sep 22 (2015-09-22) to see if that works better.

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cor-el said

That doesn't look good. All three of the root folders miss their proper name. Try to restore an older copy and try to restore the oldest from Sep 22 (2015-09-22) to see if that works better.

This Screen Shoot Shows my Results. Not Working.

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This message means that the places.sqlite database file file is corrupted.

Try to rename the bookmarkbackups folder temporarily and remove all places.sqlite files (places.sqlite and places.sqlite-shm and places.sqlite-wal) and try gain to import this JSON backup. The purpose of renaming the bookmarkbackups folder is to prevent Firefox from restoring a possibly corrupt JSON backup file automatically when you remove places.sqlite.

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It is possible to inspect the compressed .jsonlz4 files in Firefox, but this isn't easy because this requires to run code in the Browser Console.

See:

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Can this Show anything? This is the Entire List under my Profile Folder. What's in it here that I should look at?

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