Firefox Problem – Vanishing toolbar settings

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They’re all sorts of online bookmark websites, such as del.icio.us, and others. I, personally, use del.icio.us, but for only for important links that I need to save when I’m not at my desk.

That’s why I’m almost addicted to Firefox, where I had most of my bookmarks. I spent a while organizing them into a few categories, not to mention the time I spent to save all the bookmarks.

So, you can understand that I wasn’t exactly thrilled when today, after a sudden power failure, I opened the PC, only to find that all of my bookmarks have dissapeared. I thought nothing of it, and spent about half an hour re-creating a few of my bookmarks (those I could remember) and re-arranging them. I also spent some time re-modelling my toolbars, which had also been reset. But my real problem was that each time I restarted Firefox, all my toolbar settings vanished.

Well, the problem was solved by the nice folks at irc.mozilla.org (#Firefox). Apparently, this problem is quite spread. Basically, every time you stop the program improperly (such as my power failure, a reboot or anything like this), your toolbar settings are lost and Firefox is unable to remember them, even if you modify the settings again.

If you have the same problem, here’s what you should do: First, exit all open Firefox windows. Next, open Firefox in safe mode, and choose “Reset toolbars and controls” from that window. Then click “Make changes and Restart”, and you’re done.

So that’s how I got my Firefox fixed. If you want further information on this problem, you can go here.

P.S.: Don’t misunderstand the purpose of my article: I’m not writing this to say how much Firefox sucks (even though it has flaws, as all programs do), I just want others to learn from my troubles. Speaking of errors, I’d rather take a few from Firefox than a whole LOT from IE :)

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13 Responses to “Firefox Problem – Vanishing toolbar settings”

  1. Jess says:

    And here I thought I was the only person with such a problem…

    There’s a folder called bookmarkbackups, it’s in docs&settings\app data\user\apps\mozilla\firefox\profiles, and it’s where FF backs up your bookmarks daily.

    A godsend when FF decides to reset itself.

  2. Richard says:

    Thanks! I had the same problem and this helped solving it!

  3. Nina says:

    Thank you so much !

  4. Adam says:

    Thanks so much! I’ve been having these problems for so long, and I was really sick of resetting my toolbar selection each time i restarted Firefox! Thanks so much!

  5. Keith says:

    Sweet, I had the same problem..

  6. Andy says:

    Man…you saved my butt. thanks.

  7. apmc says:

    Can somebody please talk me through how to sort this problem.

    I am unable to find the file on my PC which Jess has listed…and even if I could, I don’t know what to do…

    Sorry, and thanks in advance!

    apmc

  8. Tony says:

    I have similar problem, but not exactly the same: Bookmarks will vanish at random during open Mozilla session. (The bookmark pane stays but the my entries vanish) I am able to reset them by clicking ctrlB, but every 5 minutes or so…?! Any suggestions?
    Thank you!

  9. ben says:

    thanks for saving my already vanishing head of hair.

  10. Nukkels says:

    Looks like quite a few people have the same problem. I think it happens when the system crashes and reboots (though I have no idea why that would cause Firefox to delete bookmarks but not other settings, including Browsing History).

    Glad to find the solution at any rate!

  11. Micky D says:

    You’re the man! I had the same problem – thanks so much :)

  12. Jacques says:

    Nice job, worked fine.
    My only trouble is that I have had to use msexplorer to keep track of the operations list (not to wast any paper ;)

  13. Irene says:

    Andrei,

    You’re a life saver! Thanks a zillion!

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