Uh-oh, when you use the Reset feature, Firefox is supposed to keep your bookmarks and the tabs from your last session. But the toolbar area layout is reset to the default appearance.

Could you check whether your bookmarks are still in Firefox using either the sidebar or the Library dialog:

• Ctrl+b open the sidebar
• Ctrl+Shift+b opens the Library dialog

Could you check whether your previous session windows and tabs are available for restoration here:

• "3-bar" menu button > History > Restore Previous Session
• (menu bar) History > Restore Previous Session

Any luck?

After a Reset, Firefox places your old settings folder on your desktop, in a folder named Old Firefox Data.

Can you find that folder?

There isn't an easy way to switch that folder back into operation, but if you are a patient person with a little time to work through it, I've posted my suggested procedure in this thread: when using restart firefox you get a folder on the desktop called old firefox data i need to know how to use this folder to get my old firefox preferences back.

Does that help? Of course, that would get you back to the slowness you had before, so we'll need to work on that next.

i have no idea what a 3bar menu button is so I cannot try that. but the other idea in this message was not ago. I got the box, but nothing in it.

See also:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/firefox-health-report-understand-your-browser-perf

Do you have an Old Firefox Data folder on your desktop?

yes I do

Thank you for checking/confirming that.

Okay, so what level of data recovery are you looking for?

• Just bookmarks and saved passwords
• As much as possible

When you reset Firefox then a new profile is created and some personal data (bookmarks, history, cookies, passwords, form data) is automatically imported and the current profile folder will be moved to the desktop to an "Old Firefox Data" folder. Installed extensions and other customizations (toolbars, prefs) that you have made are lost and need to be redone.

It is possible to recover data from the old profile, but as always be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over problems.

See:

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

just my bookmarks

Could you try this:

Click into the Old Firefox Data folder, then into the partially-randomly-named folder inside it.

(If you find more than one folder inside, click into the most recently updated one.)

In this folder, look for a folder named bookmarkbackups and click into it.

Can you find file with a recent date and time? The pattern would be along these lines:

bookmarks-2014-07-24_5368.json

That number before .json indicates how many bookmarks were included in the backup.

Assuming you find some good-looking backups:

Copy the two most recent backups to your desktop.

One way to do this is to Ctrl+click each of them, then right-click > Copy. On your desktop, right-click > Paste. After a moment, the two files should appear.

Next, you can restore these to your currently running Firefox.

Please note that a restore will replace any new bookmarks you have saved in the past day or so. If you need to save those, there are a couple of extra steps.

Here are the reference materials:

(1) Optional: Export current bookmarks to the HTML format. See: Export Firefox bookmarks to an HTML file to back up or transfer bookmarks. It's a good idea to open this in Firefox as a web page and skim through it to make sure it's complete before proceeding.

(2) Restore the JSON-format backup file from your desktop. See: Restore bookmarks from backup or move them to another computer (use the Choose File... option to find that file on your desktop).

(3) Optional: Re-import the file from step #1. See: Import Bookmarks from an HTML file.

(4) Optional: Re-organize the imported bookmarks into the proper location(s). See: Bookmarks in Firefox (skip down to "How do I organize my bookmarks?").

Success?

These can't get your data back, but will help in the future.

These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backup of files that you choose.

OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences