Recently I created a new blog post about the comparison of all top web browsers that are available on the web. This particular one actually pertains to remaining cautious of FireFox 3.5.11 and how it has royally screwed up my desktop. Well, I shouldn’t quite say “royally” as some may get offended by the language. Although it has now been about a week since I upgraded to FireFox 3.5.11 and yet to find a trace of my long lost bookmarks. That’s right folks! I’ve lost approximately two years worth of bookmarked pages and resource information due to this upgrade. This is one of those times that I’ll probably get a response on this post stating something along the lines of “Why not use an online service to store your bookmarks?” Exactly! Why didn’t I use an online bookmarks storage service?
I’ve done quite a bit of research on the web in regards to this issue and yet to find a solution on how to possibly recover my long lost bookmarks. After reading thru the release notes for FireFox 3.5.11 I noticed that Mozilla openly admits that there’s an issue with bookmarks. Being open source I would highly suggest that any of you reading this blog post remain cautious of FireFox 3.5.11 as I’d hate to see you end up like me. One of the things that I hate the most about Open Source Solutions is that when something breaks, it really shatters. In comparison to an out-of-box solution at least in your paid version of the application support can be expected. In OSS you have to rely on the community or developers (if you get lucky) to acquire some answers.
Remain Cautious of FireFox 3.5.11 & Upgrades
Prior to proceeding with any major version upgrades of your FireFox browser please make sure that you backup your FireFox bookmarks at the least. I’d hate to see anyone lose valuable resources due to a hiccup in the FireFox browser version upgrade. The process of backing up your bookmarks from FireFox is actually quite straight forward. Follow the short step-by-step instructions below and you should have a backup created in a matter of minutes.
Backup Your FireFox 3.x Bookmarks (On Windows 7)
1. Open your FireFox browser as you would to browse the web. (Not in Safe Mode!)
2. Click on Bookmarks – Organize Bookmarks in the top navigation of the browser itself.
3. Select the Import and Backup drop-down menu. Choose Backup from the shortcut menu and save the .json file onto your Desktop. Alternatively you can Export HTML as well to create a text version of your bookmarks.
4. That’s It! You’re done! Make sure you retain a copy of either or both files for future use.
If you’re still having any problems with your bookmarks on FireFox 3.5.11 feel free to contact me for further support. Unfortunately I do not support the development of FireFox and can’t answer any further questions beyond this particular issue that I’ve had difficulties with myself. This is your unofficial disclaimer 🙂