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System Restore Fail

HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
edited June 2008 in Technology
This weekend I decided to try out the new Firefox 3 on my Vista machine.

The upgrade was very smooth and I noticed right away that it was better than my old version. Then I encountered a problem.

Some of my extensions and GreaseMonkey scripts were no longer working. Because these particular things are why I use FireFox I needed to go back to the previous version. I thought I could just reinstall an old copy of version 2.x but after doing so it would crash while loading.

I decided to give Windows System Restore a try (I don't change a lot of files on my hard drive, use Flash drives and web-based storage mostly). After two attempts that both failed via unknown errors I had to go with the option I did not want to go with. I had to uninstall Firefox and install a fresh copy of version 2.x.

After doing that everything worked fine but all my saved passwords are gone. I spent a few hours last night going from site to site trying to remember my passwords and requesting new passwords when I could not remember them. Sadly some of my accounts I can't remember the username, password or email address I used when signing up for them. Nothing terribly important but annoying none the less.

Comments

  • BronzdragonBronzdragon
    Windows System Restore doesn't change files, it changes SETTINGS. Big difference.

    Also, next time you can back up your profile. It's what contains all personal information.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Windows System Restore doesn't change files, it changes SETTINGS. Big difference.
    Shows how often I have used the feature! Last time I used said feature was several versions ago and it did work on the file level.
  • AprecheApreche
    Don't let Firefox save your passwords. It is a bad feature. They shouldn't have it in there. Also, backup your Firefox profiles.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Don't let Firefox save your passwords. It is a bad feature. They shouldn't have it in there. Also, backup your Firefox profiles.
    I forgot about profiles. I have not consciously used profiles since my Netscape days.
  • AprecheApreche
    I forgot about profiles. I have not consciously used profiles since my Netscape days.
    Well, they're in there, and they're very important. All your Firefox business is in the profile. You can actually still get the old profile manager dialog box to show up if you give Firefox the right command line arguments.
  • DkongDkong
    Don't let Firefox save your passwords. It is a bad feature. They shouldn't have it in there. Also, backup your Firefox profiles.
    Do I store my bank passwords in Firefox? No. Do I give a shit if someone gets onto my account for these forums? Not really, honestly...
    Therefore, all my forum passwords are saved, and other passwords that are really no biggie, and everything else isn't.
    So I wouldn't go as far as saying it shouldn't be a feature.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited June 2008
    I agree with that. A lot of participatory web content is locked behind login pages simply get accurate user statistics (maybe avoid abuse). For sites where security isn't a big concern, I think there should be a Firefox extension to automatically generate user name/password info for registration with a single mouse click. Well, you might have to figure out some additional simple way to deal with captchas.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • Josh BytesJosh Bytes
    What's wrong with using Firexfox to manage and store your passwords?
  • RymRym
    What's wrong with using Firexfox to manage and store your passwords?
    Most people who do so promptly forget said passwords, and are properly fucked if they ever lose them or try to log in from anywhere other than home.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    What's wrong with using Firexfox to manage and store your passwords?
    Most people who do so promptly forget said passwords, and are properly fucked if they ever lose them or try to log in from anywhere other than home.
    I keep a coded list of my passwords somewhere online behind passwords I never forget. Even if someone gets past that first password the info is stored in a place and format that is pretty indistinguishable from other content. So I let firefox store a load of passwords for things like forums where I really don't mind a bit less security, and I don't need to remember, and passwords for important stuff I remember.

    Or I say I remember, what I really remember is a pattern of finger movements. Then I travel and have to use a different language keyboard layout and I'm screwed. Eg. in Belgium the default is for the number keys to be symbols, and you hold shift to type the numbers. That one once stumped me for ages.

    Also, change your passwords often!
  • AprecheApreche
    Also, FYI people, password hashing systems are very good. I plan on converting to one when I get the iPhone.
  • CHOIS CHOIS CHOISCHOIS CHOIS CHOIS
    Ah, windows. It sucks to do any fixing for it. When you gotta problem, your screwed. Unlike on the Mac *cough cough*
  • AndrewAndrew
    Ah, windows. It sucks to do any fixing for it. When you gotta problem, your screwed. Unlike on the Mac *cough cough*
    Enjoying those games on your Mac? Oh...wait...
  • CHOIS CHOIS CHOISCHOIS CHOIS CHOIS
    Yeah, Marathon, Wesnoth, Halo CE, and the rest are great.

    I do have a Windows/linux box that I can play PC games on.
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