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Question

Firefox-Uninstall & Reinstall-What To Save 1st?

May 23, 2011 7:01AM PDT

I'm still a "dummie" tho not a newbie [blush]. Need your expert help - simply worded. A couple of months ago Firefox crashed and I didn't go back to fix it. I really want it so here's the Question: What do I need to Do w/existing Firefox, ex. "Save"/Backup etc before the Uninstall? ex. Toolbars [not even sure what I have cuz I can't get there - but at least a Language Translation. And what about Add-Ins - also don't know what's there] I already found & saved to desktop my Bookmarks; there's an icon there [how to retrieve that later?]. Found the Mozilla Folder in Program Files. so, What To Do Before UnInstall? -thanks muchly, ginni. p.s. I read about FF5 beta, but since I'm such a dummie I want to reinstall with ver3.6 - good idea for now? system: older Dell 2400. XP-SP3. slow chip. sorta-Hi-Speed.

Note: This post was edited by a forum moderator to fix weird strike through. on 05/25/2011 at 3:34 PM PT

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Not sure how you did that.
May 24, 2011 5:39AM PDT

I see a lot of "Strike through" words in your post. Not sure how you did that, Happy

Personally, I would start again, and remove/uninstall everything to do with Firefox. Have a look at John's guidance here;
http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6620_102-2484636.html

Mark

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Firefox Reinstall+Amazing"Strike-Outs"!
May 24, 2011 9:21AM PDT

Thanks for your reply, Mark - I went to the link which provides all the info I need. Very easy/clear for this perpetual "dummie."
Two Birds w/One Stone Dept: per the link, you said to install "the newest version" of FF. Do you mean it's ok to go for the beta 5 ver.? thanks for the pending rsvp.
re: strikeouts - jeepers - I don't have a clue where that came from!
But I meant every word I said! So thanks for answering. Looks like a person who changes their mind a lot - the hard way! (which I definitely try not to do!)

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Firefox 5
May 24, 2011 9:38PM PDT

Personally I wouldn't install any Beta. They are OK for those who want to test and are prepared for crashes and/or system instability, but generally I find it better to let others do the testing.

No, I would stick with the latest public version, Firefox 4.

Mark

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Firefox Reinstall - Beta5?
May 25, 2011 4:38AM PDT

Thanks again, Mark, for your help.
"No" to Beta's - that's what I thought. However, on a wonderful CNET review recently, many said ver FF4 was a whole lotta trouble (wish I could give you reference to that info). So wha'do I know? Is ver 3.6 ok instead, for now? mannn, I've got a lot of dumb questions! You are so patient & kind. I'll follow your advice for either ver 3.6 or 4 - remember I've got an older unit. (also between my ears!) thanks muchly. ginni
Dell2400. XP-Pro, SP3. slow chip [Pentium4, 2.66 ghz. I know, a dinosaur!]. RAM-1G [not enough]. HD is 2/3 full! [tons & tons of images]. ~adequate Hi-Speed connect.

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I would try FF4
May 25, 2011 4:57AM PDT

I've got an old Dell as well, a Dell Dimension 8300, 3.0Ghz and 2GB of RAM running XP SP3. I brought mine back in 2002 I believe, (it's so long ago I can't remember!)

Firefox 4 runs well on my Dell, but admittedly it runs better on my newer system running Win 7, but then most things do.

Your 1GB of RAM is much better than some we see here, and it's not bad at all.

You're right that there are some, but only some, users who have reported problems with their FF4. But here's the strange thing. In reviews and in forums like these, we often only hear the bad news. We rarely see posters offer that, "such and such runs really well" It's the nature of the game I suppose, that posters come here with their problems, and when others read them they gain a view that the problems are endemic. However, there are millions of users who never have problems. And with Reviews, the reviewer sets out to review the package and tell us the results, good and bad. That's the case with FF4

In your case, if you can successfully uninstall Firefox completely using John's guidance, (and I would add to that, reboot, (restart), the computer afterwards, as this updates the registry and any system files), then I'm betting that FF4 will install properly and will run without problems.

As you add the add-ons you want, you can monitor how FF manages and see if there is any drop in performance. I can see you asking about that, Happy . I have seen posters here say they have tens of add-ons., (10, 20, 30 or more). I have to wonder how that affects Firefox because those add-ons have to be initialised when Firefox is loaded, and how it affects the running of FF. I try to keep my add-ons to the minimum.

Good luck.

Mark

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Firefox-Reinstall w/ver4
May 25, 2011 6:29AM PDT

Mark - You Are Awesome!
You Are A Wonderful & Kind & Patient Expert Helper.
I Love CNET - What would I ever do without you?!
I'll go ahead now as carefully as possible with the uninstall & clean reinstall of Firefox4. (I completely agree with your view that most people only report the bad news) I can't believe I waited so long to get help.
Thank You Ten Thousand Times!!!
I'll post *briefly* later about how it goes. I *promise* not to ask about performance Wink .
> I can see you asking about that <
You're funny!
Blessings on your head.
ginni
aka ladytrickster

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Firefox changes I don't like...
May 27, 2011 9:15AM PDT

I have installed FF4 on a couple of XP systems and a Windows 7. On all systems it seems to be a little faster than FF3.6, but not much. My pet peeve is the relocation of some of the buttons on the main toolbar, most especially the "Home" button to the extreme right side. Why DID they do that? Several other buttons also moved but not so far that I had trouble finding them. Losing the status bar at the bottom also seems like a big step backwards; fortunately there is an add-on fix for that.

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You can change some of those.
May 27, 2011 6:44PM PDT
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Not sure how you did that.
May 25, 2011 8:43PM PDT

Mark,
This is a wonderful post..I have gone through the site and it is extremely wonderful. I indeed implemented the idea and it was found successful. Thanks a lot Mark.

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Firefox:Ctrl-Shft-B Save Bookmarks-Can't Do w/FF Down
May 30, 2011 1:42AM PDT

Hi again. from link to John's advice for Uninstall & Reinstall - info for saving Bookmarks - http://forums.cnet.com/7726-6620_102-2484636.html

> Backing up your bookmarks/favorites:
1.) In Firefox, press Ctrl + Shift + B. The Bookmarks Manager will appear. 2.) Go Import and Backup ? Backup and save the file to your Desktop. <

I can't do any of this cuz FF isn't working at all. No actions are possible. Not from Menu Bar, no speed keys, no manager, nothing. Sorry. I can't find where I read that Ctrl-Shft-B creates a much more complete Backup of my Bookmarks, which I'd *really* like to have. Can this type of 'more complete' capture of my Bookmarks info be performed via one of the FF Program Folders? I've already done the more simple 'copy' of the folder to desktop, but the article I read said this other method preserves much more... rsvp when ya can - I was all ready to go ahead... Sad
If/when I finally get this un&re-install under way - what needs to be disabled before Downloading new FF? Should I disable all AV's, all malware programs, all firewalls? (really *dumb* + I always forget what/where all these are) jeepers - after all this... you're so patient.
When closing my broken FF [w/the red "x"], I took a look at the Error Report, Technical Data. There are 2 items [both in Doc...\Local...\Temp...\...]:
extensions: "firefox.exe.mdmp" and "appcompat.txt"
what if....
if these 2 temp files are located & deleted, would all my fuss be necessary? Sad Seems these items would have to disappear w/Disk Cleanup & Dskck. Wha'd'ya think? omg...
I'm guessing a reinstall is the best plan...
so, back to 'most complete' save of Bookmarks info...
You get the Gold Star!
ginni

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OK, let's do this manually.
May 30, 2011 5:54AM PDT

Let's find your Bookmarks file and copy it.

But here's a difficulty. I'm using Windows 7 and you're using Windows XP, so there are differences.

Can you use Windows Explorer? It is the same window that you use when you open My Computer, or My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, and so on. Windows Explorer can be found in Start > All programs > Accessories. if you open that it should have two panes, left and right. Anything you highlight in the left pane will display in the right pane.

First step, Unhide files and folders. In Explorer, go to Tools > Folder Options, then click the View tab. If there is a tick for "Don't show hidden files, folders or drives", tick instead the one below, "Show hidden files, folders and drives". Click Apply then OK.

I can't remember what is displayed in the left pane when you first open Explorer, but whatever it is, will have a small + sign next to it. Click that, and keep clicking until you see (C: ) which is your hard drive. Click the + besides the C, and at the same time, highlight the C to list the folders in the right pane.

In the left pane, look for "Documents and Settings", then highlight and click the + besides that. Then start drilling down the sub folders under your own XP account name.

I think it will be something like;
C://documents and settings / {YourUsername} / application data / mozilla / firefox / profiles / {RandomCharacters}/

Highlight the random characters folder and the list of files it contains will display in the right hand pane.

You are looking for two files, "bookmarks.html" and "places.sqlite".

Copy those to some safe temporary place, like your Desktop. For full safety, copy them somewhere else as well,eg a flash drive, external drive or CD.

The bookmarks.html is the one used for Importing and Exporting. The places.sqlite is is where the actual Firefox bookmarks are stored, and we are copying that for double safety reasons, in case bookmarks.html fails for some reason.

Now that you have your bookmarks saved, you can go ahead and uninstall Firefox, reboot the computer. I would then manually delete all folders relating to Firefox, both in the Documents and Settings folders, and in Program files. Do not delete any Mozilla folders if you use Thunderbird, the email software. If you use something else for email then go ahead and delete all references to Mozilla.

For good measure, reboot again.

To reinstall Firefox again, there is no need to disable any security programs.

When Firefox is reinstalled, you can Import the bookmarks file from Firefox's Bookmarks menu.

Good luck.

Mark

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Saving Bookmarks in Firefox - Almost There!
May 31, 2011 10:15AM PDT

That was great - Your instructions are perfect! I easily found the files & folders to do the job.

Oddly, the option "Show Hidden Files & Folders" was already checked. Under those 'random characters' there are 5 Folders and a bunch of 'loose' individual files.

Just when you thought we were done - In addition to the two needed files "bookmarks.html" & "places.sqlite" I also found a file "places.sqlite-journal" [0 kb] and about a dozen other ".sqlite" files.

I also found a 'folder' [not a file] in the same section - "bookmarksbackups" which contains 6 files. Each of these are "JSON" files, with dates from Jan thru Apr 2011, 150 kb each.

So what about these other items? Should they be saved aside also?

I had already saved "bookmarks.html" to desktop. I'll do the same w/"places.sqlite" and then both again to my external drive. And anything/everything else you tell me to do...

I am *so* ready to be done with all this - I bet you are too! Do you know how very very grateful I am to you? Put a Gold Star on your forehead and ask for a raise!

thanks for the "Good Luck"
ginni

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It might be a good idea to save those others
May 31, 2011 9:08PM PDT

but I don't think they will be necessary for this exercise.

Save them, and let's see if they are needed.

Mark