Issue with Mozilla Firefox

[Martok]

Quick background:

My computer has an issue where it seemingly randomly restarts once or twice a day, regardless of what I was doing at the time -- I can be playing games, websurfing, or I might not be doing anything at all. (I suspect it's a virus, but I've not been able to track it down yet.) Anyway, given that Mozilla can restore whatever internet session(s) I've had up at the time of these involuntary shutdown/restarts, this was obviously a useful feature for me.

However, when I had another of these restarts a couple hours ago, Mozilla said it was undergoing maintenance at the time and that it therefore couldn't restore my sessions. This wasn't a big deal in and of itself -- I'd have been no worse off than if I'd been running IE7, after all -- but what *is* a problem is that all my Bookmark/Favorites on Firefox have now disappeared!

So is there a way I can restore them without having to redownload/re-install Mozilla? And (perhaps just as importantly) are my Bookmarked sites going to be deleted every time Mozilla is undergoing maintenance?

Please tell me the answer is "yes" to the former question, and "no" to the latter.

[drone]

Bookmarks are usually kept in c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<random profile string>\bookmarks.html. There might be a backup in there you can restore, usually called bookmarks.bak or something similar.

[caravel]

Quick background:

My computer has an issue where it seemingly randomly restarts once or twice a day, regardless of what I was doing at the time -- I can be playing games, websurfing, or I might not be doing anything at all. (I suspect it's a virus, but I've not been able to track it down yet.) Anyway, given that Mozilla can restore whatever internet session(s) I've had up at the time of these involuntary shutdown/restarts, this was obviously a useful feature for me.

First you need to get rid of that instant rebooting issue. Right click My Computer, select properties, click the advanced tab and click the Start up and Recovery: Settings button. Look at the System Failure section and uncheck "Automatically Reboot" then click ok and ok again.

The next time your random reboot occurs it won't be a reboot at all but a BSoD error. When the BSoD appears write down the info and then reboot manually by hitting the hard reset on the front of your system.

However, when I had another of these restarts a couple hours ago, Mozilla said it was undergoing maintenance at the time and that it therefore couldn't restore my sessions. This wasn't a big deal in and of itself -- I'd have been no worse off than if I'd been running IE7, after all -- but what *is* a problem is that all my Bookmark/Favorites on Firefox have now disappeared!

So is there a way I can restore them without having to redownload/re-install Mozilla? And (perhaps just as importantly) are my Bookmarked sites going to be deleted every time Mozilla is undergoing maintenance?

Please tell me the answer is "yes" to the former question, and "no" to the latter.

Not the case. It may have occurred because Firefox has made a new user profile, this sometimes happens if the old one was corrupted while Firefox was updating? and this is possible seeing as your machine is crashing.

You'll probably need to get your bookmarks imported from IE again. If you're unsure of how to do this then reinstalling Firefox is probably the easiest way. And no this isn't normal and shouldn't happen. The crashing is likely the reason it's occurring.

[Martok]

Bookmarks are usually kept in c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<random profile string>\bookmarks.html. There might be a backup in there you can restore, usually called bookmarks.bak or something similar.

Nope, there's no backup there, unfortunately. Guess I'll have to reinstall it then.

First you need to get rid of that instant rebooting issue. Right click My Computer, select properties, click the advanced tab and click the Start up and Recovery: Settings button. Look at the System Failure section and uncheck "Automatically Reboot" then click ok and ok again.

The next time your random reboot occurs it won't be a reboot at all but a BSoD error. When the BSoD appears write down the info and then reboot manually by hitting the hard reset on the front of your system.

Ah, so *that's* why it's been doing that! I'd been having that problem ever since my friend fixed my PC this past autumn, and I couldn't figure out why.

Thanks for the help, guys.

[Martok]

Another problem. I reinstalled Mozilla, but it didn't automatically import my Favorites from Internet Explorer. Is there a way to do so manually?

[Pannonian]

Another problem. I reinstalled Mozilla, but it didn't automatically import my Favorites from Internet Explorer. Is there a way to do so manually?

Bookmarks
Organise Bookmarks
File > Import
Microsoft Internet Explorer

Edit: It's a good idea to manually export your bookmarks to a file regularly, so you'll have something to go back to.

[Martok]

Many thanks, Pannonian.

Edit: It's a good idea to manually export your bookmarks to a file regularly, so you'll have something to go back to.

Done.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
You would also want to backup your saved passwords and form data. They're stored in two files bearing the random profile string as name; .w and .s as extensions in the aforementioned folder. (Don't worry, they're encrypted.)
.

[caravel]

Unless you set a master password then all your passwords in Firefox can be viewed by anyone that has access to your pc and are not encrypted. This is why I strongly advise that the password saving feature be disabled altogether in Firefox.

To do this go to tools, options (Linux: edit, preferences), click the security icon, uncheck "remember passwords for sites", click the "show passwords" button, click "remove all" and close. Note near the "remove all" button there is another "show passwords" button. Before you clear your passwords have a click on this to see just how dangerous saving passwords in Firefox is.

In the past I've discovered people's ebay passwords, among others. For the most part they had no idea that their passwords were being stored in this fashion. It's not a smart system as it's not obvious that it works like this and one of Firefox's few bad points.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
That's a valid point. It's best not to store valuable data on computers that are open to common access, albeit limited.

I have no such problems at home.
.

[Martok]

Well now I have two new problems.

Actually, the first problem never went away: My computer is still restarting without my telling it to, even though I unchecked the "Automatically restart" option on My Computer.

In addition, this time Mozilla failed to restore the internet sessions I'd had up when my PC restarted.

[Pannonian]

Well now I have two new problems.

Actually, the first problem never went away: My computer is still restarting without my telling it to, even though I unchecked the "Automatically restart" option on My Computer.

In addition, this time Mozilla failed to restore the internet sessions I'd had up when my PC restarted.

Firstly, clean out the inside of your computer, as you may have a problem with ventilation and cooling.

Secondly, try the session manager add-on.

[Mouzafphaerre]

.
Hurts to say this but may be a RAM or -even worse- mobo trouble.
.

[Makanyane]

Yep, the re-starting could be RAM problem. Other half had that problem recently which he kindly fixed by pinching the memory from my PC

[Husar]

Yep, the re-starting could be RAM problem. Other half had that problem recently which he kindly fixed by pinching the memory from my PC

Drop him and take me.
Can't he just buy a new one?

Also Martok, if your friend "fixed" your computer and that's exactly when the problem started, you might want to try waterboarding your "friend" and asking some serious questions.

[Martok]

Well if the RAM really is the problem, then that would be doubly -- not to mention, bitterly -- ironic, as my friend and I discovered it was a bad stick of RAM that had caused my PC to stop functioning last year in the first place. I wound up having to replace it, as a matter of fact (with a different brand). If it turns out I replaced bad RAM with more bad RAM, I just might lose it.

[Vladimir]

Also Martok, if your friend "fixed" your computer and that's exactly when the problem started, you might want to try waterboarding your "friend" and asking some serious questions.

Re: my sig. Don't lend your friends money or ask them to work on your computer.

[caravel]

The fact that it's rebooting without even BSoD'ing indicates a more serious failure. You need to get that machine looked at, forget about Firefox, tackle the root of the problem first, as there is no way you can run a PC in that condition.

[Martok]

[Casts "resurrect" spell on thread]


I have another issue with Firefox that's been ongoing for a while now: I'm finding that it keeps logging me out of websites (including the Org), so that I have to log back in when I visit them -- not necessarily every day, but usually 2-3 times a week. Although the actual level of inconvenience caused is admittedly pretty minor overall, it's really starting to irritate me. Any idea as to how I can stop this from happening and *stay* logged in?

[Pannonian]

Sounds like expiring cookies. I think the length of time cookies last for is set by the website, although there may be ways around it. Tools > Options > Privacy > Show Cookies and double click on the website of your choice to see when the cookie for that site will expire.

[Martok]

Sounds like expiring cookies. I think the length of time cookies last for is set by the website, although there may be ways around it. Tools > Options > Privacy > Show Cookies and double click on the website of your choice to see when the cookie for that site will expire.

Does the length of time cookies remain vary by browser, though?

I ask that because I almost never had this problem with Internet Explorer -- it happened, at most, only 3-4 times a year. It's only since I began using Mozilla that I've had to deal with the issue constantly.

[Pannonian]

Does the length of time cookies remain vary by browser, though?

I ask that because I almost never had this problem with Internet Explorer -- it happened, at most, only 3-4 times a year. It's only since I began using Mozilla that I've had to deal with the issue constantly.

It shouldn't do, although you might find more on the subject in the Mozilla forums. Go into Show Cookies and see what it says for the Org.

[Makanyane]

I had that problem on another site before and strangely the answer turned out to be deliberately clearing all the cookies and starting again.... don't ask why

[Martok]

Gah! I hate doing that, but I may have no choice but to try it. Having to re-log onto my websites every other day (on average) is definitely causing my patience to wear thin.