Hi GRV,

A clean install will not delete your bookmarks, saved passwords, add-ons or other personal information. This information is stored separately in your profile folder.

Here's how to do a clean install of Firefox:

Uninstall Firefox from your computer.

Delete the Firefox installation folder (located in one of these folders by default): C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox

Restart your computer.

Download a fresh copy of Firefox at https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/#download-fx

Double-click on the downloaded file and follow the prompts to continue the installation process.

Agreed.

I will try "My Cheese is Slippin's" solution. I'm very surprised that doing an Uninstall first will NOT delete my bookmarks, saved passwords, add-ons. So I gather that is saved in a folder other than C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox (where my old Firefox was). I have over 100 bookmarks which will be a pain to rebuild, plus and add-in I use a lot. But if you say this works, I'll try it -- and try to let you know how it worked out. Thanks (I hope) in advance.

All of your bookmarks, saved passwords, add-ons, etc. are in your Profile folder:

C:\\Users\<yourname>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Completely separate from the Program Files.

My_Cheese_Is_Slippin' said

All of your bookmarks, saved passwords . . . .

Correct.

To My Cheese & FredMcD:

Thank you for the info. Here's an update. I tried Uninstall via the Control Panel. It would not summon the Firefox uninstall routine. I tried uninstall via Apps & Features and it did nothing. I went into /Program Files (x86)/Mozilla Firefox, found helper.exe and tried to run it with Admin privileges and it would not run.

I have repeatedly scanned my computer via McAfee and Windows Defender, and it comes up clean. Will it refuse to do an uninstall if the file firefox.exe isn't present? BTW: I went to college for computers so I'm not a newbie to them.

I am wondering if I can try a new install OVER the old one. Maybe that will simply add the firefox.exe and things will be good?

I am not rushing on this as my Win10 computer came with MS Edge, and I've never used it - until now. Thus that's how I'm writing this. But Firefox has my many bookmarks and a couple add-ins that I often use.

Let me know your thoughts, and can I just try a new install over the old?

Thx -GRV

First of all, let me say, all of your bookmarks, add-ons, etc. are perfectly safe in your Profile folder. If you ever wanted to get rid of Firefox completely you would have to access that folder and delete it manually.

If I remember correctly, the installer will detect a previous install from your registry entries and it will ask you if you want to proceed - in other words - a forced install. This should overwrite all of your Program files and include a new firefox.exe.

Rest assured, I have over 750 bookmarks and I don't have any qualms about doing a Clean Install.

It might be best to do a full clean re-install;

Note: Firefox comes in three or more folders on all computers. They are;

Maintenance: (Programs Folder) <Windows Only> Firefox itself: (Programs Folder) And two folders in the profile of each user on the computer for each Firefox profile for that user.

If you remove the Firefox folder, the user profiles would not be affected.

Download Firefox For All languages And Systems {web link}

Save the file. Then Close Firefox.

Using your file browser, open the Programs Folder on your computer.

Windows: C:\Program Files C:\Program Files (x86) Note: Check Both Folders

Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-download-and-install-firefox-mac

Linux: Check your user manual. If you installed Firefox with the distro-based package manager, you should use the same way to uninstall it. See Install Firefox on Linux; https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux

If you downloaded and installed the binary package from the Firefox download page, simply remove the folder Firefox in your home directory. http://www.mozilla.org/firefox#desktop ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Look for, and remove any Mozilla or Firefox program folders. Do not remove the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

Do Not remove any profile folders.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If there is a problem, start your Computer in safe mode and try again.

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Linux+Safe+Mode This shows how to Start all Computers in Safe Mode; Free Online Encyclopedia

Best is probably still to remove all content (files and folders) in the Firefox program folder and then reinstall Firefox in the same folder to avoid profile folder issues.

You can find the full version of the current Firefox release (69.0) in all languages and all operating systems here:

• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/
• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/69.0/releasenotes/

FYI.... Just decided to try a new install over the previous Firefox without deleting any of the original folders. I did make a copy of the original /Profiles folder before doing this tho.

The new install went fine. It said it detected a previous installation and do I want to install over the old. It also said "would you like to re-sync all your add-ins and bookmarks", and I said Yes.

As I expected.... None of my old bookmarks were restored. I figured that. Some were ancient history anyway so I'll just rebuild them as I go along. My add-ins were also not saved, but I've since re-installed a couple I wanted.

Back up and running...... knock on wood.

Lesson (perhaps): Consider at least writing down the names of the important bookmarks you use, or take screenshots - whatever.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

There should be 15 days of bookmarks backups in your profile.

Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles.{web link} I use an add-on that makes backups of my user profile, Just In Case. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the current Firefox.

Every now and then, open the profile folder and create a copy of the current profile as is to another location on your hard drive. This way you will have a backup.

If you do this each day, you will not lose much data. This should be done with Firefox Closed.

Note: In case you need to restore from these backups, you may need to overwrite old or corrupted files.

Gentlemen:

With your help, it appears I'm now right back - good as new.

I took FredMcD's advice and went to "Back up and restore information in Firefox profiles" and after a couple pages I found I can type "about profiles" in the Firefox address bar.

This called up a page listing 2 existing profiles - the default one being the new install (over the old) that I just did. I selected the other profile and then selected "Open in a new browser window". That brought up all my old settings, add-ins, and bookmarks.

It was a little tricky then to set that profile as my default, but eventually I did that.

I now have Firefox ""exactly""(?) the way it was.

An interesting fact is, it seems the new install installed under /Program Files (and contains a "firefox.exe" file, while the old install is still there under /Program Files (x86) but does NOT contain a "firefox.exe" file.

We'll see how things go. I see there is also a way to backup your profile. I need to look into that.

Now I'm going to at least write down all my "old" (and useful) bookmarks.

Thanks for everything,

GRV

Hi GRV, Somehow, it looks like you installed both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of Firefox. And, in regard to the default profile, I still don't understand why it changes.

Anyway, glad to hear that you're back in business as usual.

Browse Safe!