Updating to Firefox 3 - problems

[Bill D (wwh)]

I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.20. Recently I updated to version 3, and about two thirds of my bookmarks and two thirds of my stored passwords disappeared.

I keep written records of passwords, so that was just an inconvenience, but losing two thirds of my bookmarks was a big issue, as I have a lot of them, and many are sites that I only use very infrequently but when I do they're indispensible.

My temporary fix was to reinstall v2 over v3, which brought everything back, but as v2 is no longer supported I do want to update.

I'm sure it's possible to update without losing all those passwords and bookmarks, but I've no idea how. Can anyone help with this?

Edit to add: I'm using Win XP Pro, in case that's relevant.

[Bear and Ragged]

It's been awhile...
I think that your bookmarks are saved somewhere...
Don't ask where, I can't remember!

add.
If you can find it, copy it to your desk top, install FF3, then copy back into new folder.

[11011100]

Bill

There are quite a few people experiencing similar problems according to their forums here.

There are a few tips that might work here

Good luck!

[martybartfast]

Your bookmarks are kept in a starightforward html file, it will be somewhere like:

C:/Documents and Settings/username/Application Data/Mozilla/Firefox/???????.default/bookmarks.html

where ?????? is a random looking string and username is your user name.

Just try searching for a file named bookmarks.html but remember to search hidden and system files. you can copy it away, upgrade, and copy it back and everything should be OK.

[Djinnsplace]

As far as I can remember -bookmarks, organise bookmarks, export html - will save a web page with all your links.
In FF3 it would be -bookmarks, organise bookmarks, Import and Backup,export html.

[Bill D (wwh)]

Thanks, folks, for all the suggestions! :cheers:

I got there in the end, but it took an age... My bookmarks ended up in a new folder inside my bookmarks folder, but I can move those to get them all into my huge dropdown list.

I found an Add-on to export and import passwords, and though a few seem to have got missed somehow, I've got most of them back again and things in v3 are now pretty well how they should be.

[The Hornet]

Glad you got it sorted Bill. You might want to have a look at the Firefox Add-in Xmarks. It's free and keeps a copy of your bookmarks online. If you use more than one PC it will keep the bookmarks synchronised between them. It's really useful if/when you have to reinstall stuff on a broken PC !!

[Bill D (wwh)]

Glad you got it sorted Bill. You might want to have a look at the Firefox Add-in Xmarks. It's free and keeps a copy of your bookmarks online. If you use more than one PC it will keep the bookmarks synchronised between them. It's really useful if/when you have to reinstall stuff on a broken PC !!

Thanks for the link, Peter! I only use one pc at home, but I often use friends' computers when I'm away and that will save me a lot of searches! And as you say, it'll potentially be very useful for reinstalling, God forbid...!

[Bill D (wwh)]

Hmm, I've now gone back to v2...

V3 was sooooooo slow... Pages took an age to even begin loading, and my CPU was running at 100% pretty well all the time I was using v3. And worse, it seemed to slow down everything else on my computer too.

It seems these are common problems - Mozilla's forums are awash with posts from people who've experienced them, and Mozilla recognise that but don't seem able to help. I tried all the suggestions in their knowledgebase, and they either didn't help at all or exacerbated the problem.

Versions 1 and 2 were great, but I'm afraid version 3, for me and a substantial minority of other users, is a massive PITA. As v2 is no longer supported and is probably going to become rather dodgy security-wise I'm now looking around for another browser.