Hi Don, have you tried shutting down Windows and restarting it since this problem occurred? Sometimes after Windows updates, Firefox does not have full permissions to your data and starts up with missing settings, so I'd like to rule that out.

Second, is there an "Old Firefox Data" folder on your desktop? If so, could you check its contents to see how recently they were updated?

Third, could you check for any additional profile folders (Firefox settings folders) in the standard location? As a shortcut to open that, you can copy the following shortcut and paste it into the Windows 7 Start menu search box and press Enter to launch it:

%APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

That should expand to this folder, which is on a hidden path:

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles

Do you find multiple folders here?

These can't get your data back, but will help in the future.

These add-ons can be a great help by backing up and restoring Firefox

FEBE (Firefox Environment Backup Extension) {web link} FEBE allows you to quickly and easily backup your Firefox extensions, history, passwords, and more. In fact, it goes beyond just backing up -- It will actually rebuild your saved files individually into installable .xpi files. It will also make backups of files that you choose.

OPIE {web link} Import/Export extension preferences