Chrome browers woes

[pontiac1940]

Hi all. Sorry for being quiet...again. Starting to feel caught up! All good.

So I have a major Chrome problem and I am not happy. I am guessing we have irreconcilable differences and will part ways forever.

About Thursday last, Chrome would not start. Reboot would not work. So I used FireFox for a day or two and yesterday when I got back to the summer place, I fired up the old ASUS and low and behold Chrome started. BUT it was as if I was a new Chrome user and nothing was there: no startup tabs open (not the four go-to URLs such as Gmail, local weather etc); no bookmarks in the bookmark bar which is so important; and no bookmarks in the right side hidden panel. Nada. Zip. Near as I can tell, Chrome simply crashed-and-burned and when opened anew, it was as if I was a never-seen-before user. Reading online, would indicate that I have been liquidated like an unperson in the novel 1984.  

BTW, I stopped using FF a few years ago because of some issues, that I no longer recall. Not looking forward to finding about 60 URLs for the frequently used websites. I am not happy about this.

I read about "accidentally deleted" bookmarks, but that does no apply here. I never deleted anything. It deleted Clive.  

Any suggestions? Such as don't use Chrome!  

What browser are you using that has caused the least problems? (Please, no "Shoulda got a Mac and use Safari!" )

Thanks!

Clive

[blackmutt]

Sorry, no help here, I use Chrome....

[Lillias]

I don’t use Chrome Clive and I’m sorry you have had this problem. Not nice at all and unfortunately I can’t give you any answers as to why or how this has happened.
However a little tip for the future maybe if you don’t already know about it -

I use Firefox and I have the opportunity to export all my Bookmarks to an html file which means I can save that file in case of future ‘accidents’ ready to import back into Firefox or another browser for that matter should something happen to cause me to lose my bookmarks. I update that file every now and then when I’ve added more bookmarks.

[Sepiana]

Jun 16, 2019 20:51:16 GMT pontiac1940 said:

About Thursday last, Chrome would not start. Reboot would not work. So I used FireFox for a day or two and yesterday when I got back to the summer place, I fired up the old ASUS and low and behold Chrome started. BUT it was as if I was a new Chrome user and nothing was there: no startup tabs open (not the four go-to URLs such as Gmail, local weather etc); no bookmarks in the bookmark bar which is so important; and no bookmarks in the right side hidden panel. Nada. Zip.

Chrome stores its bookmark files in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\ . . .

If those files are still there, you could try the suggestions below.

What to do when your Chrome bookmarks suddenly disappear

[pontiac1940]

Lillias: thanks for that tip. Will do if I go back to Chrome. Or I suppose for any browser.

Sepiana: Thanks. But seems the AppData folder is missing or I assumed I am the "owner" i.e. username.

Just for the record, I know how to drive a car but not too brilliant when it comes to how it works. Ditto, me and computers, although I've had one at home for 35 years, I am not up to speed on how they work behind the scenes.

Here are three screen snips.

When I search C: for "AppData" this is the listing ... perhaps it is withholding "hidden files" ... out on a thin limb here. 

[Major Major]

Clive- Try this:

Open Windows Explorer.

In the menu, choose Tools, then Folder Options.

Then choose view.

Under Hidden Files and folders, choose Show hidden files, folders and drives.

You should now be able to see your AppData folder under your Users folder.

[pontiac1940]

Yup Major Major. Got it. Have dinner company and will follow the instructions as per Sepiana's link in an hour or two. I scanned the txt file and saw names of many old websites that were bookmarked.

Now I just have to follow the instructions.

Will report back later tonight!

You guys rock.

THANKS!

[Bailey]

Hi Clive

Jun 16, 2019 20:51:16 GMT pontiac1940 said:

...

What browser are you using that has caused the least problems?
...

I changed from Firefox to Chrome as my default browser only about 2 months ago after many years of using FF. For some unknown reason FF just started taking too long to start and some web pages that should load just about instantaneously were taking a long time to load. Reinstalling FF didn't help much.

I find Chrome to be a much faster browser now than what it used to be and things now happen much more quickly than in my FF when browsing/downloading from the www.

As BillieJean mentioned, all browsers allow users to export their bookmarks/favourites into at least html files. The exported bookmarks can then easily be imported into at least all the modern browsers around today. When I changed to Chrome from FF, it took only about 60-90 secs to export the latest bookmarks in my FF and then import them into my Chrome browser and I was up and running again.

Hopefully you can retrieve your bookmarks.....and the message here is that bookmarks should be exported/backed up as regularly as appropriate so that you can get up and running again quickly when things go pear shaped for some reason.

If you can't find the reason why your Chrome "crashed", the first thing you could try is delete your current installation, re-install a "fresh" latest version and import your bookmarks, which hopefully you have found.

[pontiac1940]

Company late.

Hmmmmmmmmmm...there was a bookmark file but it had no extension. That's the one I was referring to. So I'll have to be bold and try stuff...report back later.

[pontiac1940]

I'll get to this on Monday. Thanks again. 

[Lillias]

Jun 17, 2019 0:04:51 GMT pontiac1940 said:

there was a bookmark file but it had no extension.

As far as extensions go the default for Microsoft appears to be that they don't automatically show extensions. The easy way to turn that facility on is open up Windows Explorer – click the view tab and look towards the right hand end of the ribbon and if it's not already there put a tick in 'File name extensions'.

Whether that's why you can't see an extension on the bookmark file you mention is another story of course but that's all I can come up with Clive but hope it helps.

[pontiac1940]

Thanks all. Will get at this later Monday.
Bailey, I agree...FF is slower, which is noticeable at the summer place for sure.

[pontiac1940]

Thanks to all. I shall persevere.

Okay, I fiddled (dangerous) with "bookmark" files in the path as noted. (Amazing I found the hidden folders).

As noted, there was no "bookmarks.bak" file just "bookmarks" with no extension.

The noted default folder, being: C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default

Can't get them to appear, so will play again tonight.

Here is a small section from the one bookmark file with no extension. The bookmark file is way bigger ... just small portion. I'll mess with this again tonight. 

"name": "AB WX ", Alberta weather summary
"type": "url",
"url": "https://weather.gc.ca/forecast/canada/index_e.html?id=ab"
}, {
"date_added": "13023771439000000",
"id": "5",
"meta_info": {
"last_visited_desktop": "13204953016053513"
},
"name": "AMA cams",  Road cams
"type": "url",
"url": "https://511.alberta.ca/"
}, {
"date_added": "13043470537000000",
"id": "6",
"meta_info": {
"last_visited_desktop": "13205046065265292"
},
"name": "PC WX ", Pincher Creek weather
"type": "url",
"url": "https://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/ab-46_metric_e.html"
}, {
"date_added": "13043470496000000",
"id": "7",
"meta_info": {
"last_visited_desktop": "13204998289623467"
},

   

[pontiac1940]

Jun 17, 2019 0:04:22 GMT Bailey said:

If you can't find the reason why your Chrome "crashed", the first thing you could try is delete your current installation, re-install a "fresh" latest version and import your bookmarks, which hopefully you have found.

Good point Bailey. I have nothing to lose AND do have the bookmark text file saved elsewhere. Nothing to lose.

Thanks.

[Major Major]

Clive -

Also, go back to folder options | view, and make sure "hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked.