Screwed by Firefox

[Texas Proud]

OK... hope someone can help me...

Firefox had a bar saying that it could help speed up my browsing.. that it would keep my bookmarks, auto fill, passwords etc. etc.... so I thought OK, that sounds good..


WELL, THEY LIED.... now I have none of them... reading through their 'help' site I was able to get my bookmarks back...

But my passwords and auto fill for all my sites are now missing... I have read their site and cannot figure out what I am supposed to do to get them back.... so far I have invested an hour with little results...

I think I might be FUBAR.....

Anybody know who to get it back? And if so can you tell me in English

 

[ERD50]

Was it really a Firefox notice, or some kind of malware?

I don't ever recall seeing notice like that, might want to search to see if that is legit. Is it possible that bad guys now have your passwords? I'm kinda paranoid, I don't use the built in password managers, except maybe for sights that I really have no security concerns.

-ERD50

 

[CaptTom]

I'd suspect malware too.

If not, and it were Chrome, I'd say you'd need to log on to get all your stuff back. Maybe there's some similar "social media" thing in FF or some plug-in you're using, where they try to save everything in the cloud so it's available to you wherever you log on.

Not the kind of thing I'd use, so I don't know if that's the case here or not.

 

[vrijheid]

I’d say definitely a virus. Here’s a step by step to revert to a time period prior to downloading that nasty virus.

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-restore-a-computer-to-an-earlier-setting

Pretty simple really. Good luck!

 

[Texas Proud]

It is not malware... at least I do not think so... the Mozilla site talks about their refresh...

Also, why would malware erase things... if I were designing it I would leave everything there and just take what I wanted...

 

[powerplay]

I've seen that offer or a similar one on Firefox. After reading the details I decided not to do it as it would not preserve a lot of things I wanted to keep unchanged.

 

[OldShooter]

It's not malware. Firefox had a major "upgrade" a month or two ago that broke most add-ons because its API was changed to something supposedly more forward-looking. With that upgrade they also claim speed improvements.

When I found that my most favorite add-ons would no longer work, I also found that there is a way to regress to the "old" FF.

I am on "Firefox ESR" V52.6.0 and everything works swimmingly. Probably a search for Firefox ESR will get you instructions on how to flee the new release. I have gotten maintenance releases on this version, too, so at least to date it is not a dead end or a gulag.

Edit: I found this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-to-firefox-extended-support-release-esr

 

[Texas Proud]

I've seen that offer or a similar one on Firefox. After reading the details I decided not to do it as it would not preserve a lot of things I wanted to keep unchanged.

It did say it would keep bookmarks, auto fill, passwords and a few other things... I was OK with trying... but it seems to have changed everything... like a new install...

I read and found the backup of my old bookmarks and got that working... what they say about passwords and auto fill does not seem to match with what I can see, or I just do not understand what they want me to do... ie, copy old profile files to blah, blah, blah... I cannot find them

I have a good number written down, but I do not want to have to input all the crap over again... and there are a few that I do not have and do not remember


I will suggest that NOBODY does a refresh!!!!

 

[powerplay]

It did say it would keep bookmarks, auto fill, passwords and a few other things... I was OK with trying... but it seems to have changed everything... like a new install...

I read and found the backup of my old bookmarks and got that working... what they say about passwords and auto fill does not seem to match with what I can see, or I just do not understand what they want me to do... ie, copy old profile files to blah, blah, blah... I cannot find them

I have a good number written down, but I do not want to have to input all the crap over again... and there are a few that I do not have and do not remember


I will suggest that NOBODY does a refresh!!!!

Did this folder get created on your desktop in the refresh "Old Firefox Data"? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings
If so maybe some of the data is there.

 

[Gotadimple]

And create an account at support.mozilla.org/en-US/products/firefox and post your info on their forum. One of the volunteers will get with you to help you restore the missing items.

 

[Texas Proud]

Did this folder get created on your desktop in the refresh "Old Firefox Data"? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/refresh-firefox-reset-add-ons-and-settings
If so maybe some of the data is there.

No "Old Firefox Data" folder on the desktop...

I was viewing a video on restoring and I got to the point of opening up that supposed file and was dead in the water...



Edit to add.... I just found that file!!! It was stuck in the middle of some old links I have and I did not see it... Will try and copy and see what happens...

 

[easysurfer]

I've had times where previously remembered auto logins for various sites (this ER site included) get forgotten. I have Firefox. But also have a password manager, so I just re copy &paste my logins, then they are remembered til next time they are forgotten which may be months away.

I don't use the remember password options on browsers, but do use the remember login for some sites, like this ER site.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

It's not malware. Firefox had a major "upgrade" a month or two ago that broke most add-ons because its API was changed to something supposedly more forward-looking. With that upgrade they also claim speed improvements.

When I found that my most favorite add-ons would no longer work, I also found that there is a way to regress to the "old" FF.

I am on "Firefox ESR" V52.6.0 and everything works swimmingly. Probably a search for Firefox ESR will get you instructions on how to flee the new release. I have gotten maintenance releases on this version, too, so at least to date it is not a dead end or a gulag.

Edit: I found this: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-to-firefox-extended-support-release-esr

+1
definitely try this
i have ESR also ,and no problems, except for a crash about once every couple weeks, usually my fault too when I close an annoying plugin that some news websites like to add