Separate Security Issue: Update your Flash Player Note: Windows users should download the ActiveX for Internet Explorer. and the plugin for Plugin-based browsers (like Firefox).

Note: Windows 8 and Windows 10 have built-in flash players and Adobe will cause a conflict. Install the plugin only. Not the ActiveX.

Flash Player Version: Version 27.0.0.130

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ Direct link scans current system and browser Note: Other software is offered in the download. <Windows Only>

https://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/otherversions/ Step 1: Select Operating System Step 2: Select A Version (Firefox, Win IE . . . .) Note: Other software is offered in the download. <Windows Only> +++++++++++++++++++ See if there are updates for your graphics drivers https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration

When a computer or device loses power, it can cause all kinds of damage to the files. Even files not in use.

Perform a System File Check to fix corrupted system files

Win 7, 8, 10, Vista: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929833 Win XP: https://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/system_file_checker.mspx?mfr=true

Wiki - Windows 10 System File Check http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows_10-update/system-file-check-sfc-scan-and-repair-system-files/bc609315-da1f-4775-812c-695b60477a93

Just in case, Let’s do a full clean re-install;

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)

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 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Do Not remove the profiles folder.

Look for, and rename any Mozilla or Firefox program folders by adding .old to them. Do not rename the Mozilla Thunderbird folder if there is one.

After rebooting the computer, run a registry scanner if you have one. Then run the installer. If all goes well, remove the OLD folders when you are done. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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

Your System Details shows you are using Firefox 53.0

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-older-version-of-firefox?cache=no Be sure to read everything here.

If you still want to downgrade, look under; I still want to downgrade. Click the Directory of other versions and languages link. Look for the directory of the version that you want. But, remember that old versions may have security issues.

You should also check out Firefox; Extended Support Release {web link} ESR Notes System Requirements

FredMcD, Thanks for the reply. This is not the computer with the problem. It's my XP machine. I prefer it to all the others ( save for win 98 ). The .js files I'm looking at have only a KB in them. I was hoping there was a way to retrieve what was there before the crash about 32,000 KB. As I said I would not have restarted FF without resolving this problem. I have gone through it before. Sadly FF sticks a tab in the window before it starts loading all previous tabs which I have selected. One day I panicked and closed FF upon seeing only the one tab. In that moment I shot my own foot off, because when I opened FF back up to find out how to fix it I erased the back-up. i went to Session manager, but it started to mess up and I got rid of it ( Sad ). So I'm back to sessionstore. I have never encountered FF wiping out previous.js, recovery.js, and recovery.bak, so I was expecting to go to my profile and rename recovery.js I don't see how Reloading FF will help if it can't find the tabs in the file, about 32,000 KB.

You can use the link I posted above to get v52 or the ESR version.

Sometimes the problem is a corrupt file. Sometimes it's a program file, Sometimes it's a profile file.

I think you should remove all session store data and rebuild what you had before.

FredMcD, thanks for getting back to me. The latest version is working just fine and if I destroy sessionstore data I'm getting rid of the very data I'm trying to save? Know, you said, paraphrasing; "Sometimes the problem is a corrupt file. A program file, or a profile file." So my thoughts go to finding a program that can decorrupt, find out what if anything is still there and restore the data. Without having any idea what file is corrupt I suspect finding the program to restore the data will be difficult.

Did you already back up all possible session files in the profile folder for potential recovery?

You can open your current Firefox settings (AKA Firefox profile) folder using either

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Troubleshooting Information
• (menu bar) Help > Troubleshooting Information
• type or paste about:support in the address bar and press Enter

In the first table on the page, click the "Show Folder" or "Open Folder" button.

In your profile folder, scroll down and double-click into the sessionstore-backups folder. Save all files here to a safe location, such as your Documents folder. If not too much time has passed, we may be able to use them to recover your lost tabs.

The kinds of files you may find among your sessionstore files are:

• recovery.js: the windows and tabs in your currently live Firefox session (or, if Firefox crashed at the last shutdown and is still closed, your last session)
• recovery.bak: a backup copy of recovery.js
• previous.js: the windows and tabs in your last Firefox session
• upgrade.js-build_id: the windows and tabs in the Firefox session that was live at the time of your last update

Could you take a look at what you have and the date/time of the various files to see whether you think any of them would have the missing tabs?

Note: By default, Windows hides the .js extension. To ensure that you are looking at the files I mentioned, you may want to turn off that feature. This article has the steps: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/how-to-show-file-extensions-in-windows/

jscher2000, OK, this is getting a little upsetting. I've been told a number of times what the .js files are and where to find them. And I've explained that copies are in a safe place. This stuff I knew. Each file should have 32 plus KB in them, but they only show 1 KB. So something is wrong. Windows is reporting wrong or the file is corrupt. So far no one has said IF or how I can repair them. FredMcD said "Perform a System File Check to fix corrupted system files". The corrupt files belong to FF. The system is running fine. Then he says "I think you should remove all session store data and rebuild what you had before." That's fine, unless remove means delete. And if so, where is the data coming from to rebuild. This is kinda my Question in the first place.

Sorry, you said you went through this in December, so some of this is repetitive. However, we're told to provide complete references for readers who come in through search results and may not have your background.

Regarding where you are now:

• Understood that files that are only 1KB are not helpful. I'm surprised even your upgrade snapshots are tiny; that's hard to explain.
• There's no reason to delete current session files -- since you can see that Firefox is able to work with the new files, that is not applicable to your situation.

Here's another thing to try. You can use a third party utility to check for a snapshot of your profile folder in a Windows restore point:

(1) Turn on viewing of hidden files and folders: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

(2) System Restore Explorer: http://nicbedford.co.uk/software/systemrestoreexplorer/

Look along the same path as your live profile folder:

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

I suggest copying out any potentially useful files to a neutral location

Also, to see what is in a session history file, you can use this tool:

https://www.jeffersonscher.com/res/scrounger.html

Drag and drop the file onto the textbox to extract it, then click Scrounge URLs to build a list of its contents.

Jscher2000, So here are a few questions to get me started. Can I download scrounger to a thumb drive and can I run it in notepad? Here's the thing, If I add a new tab that may seal my fate. I need to download it to my win 10 machine and carry it across the air gap. I'm not sure how I can protect the integrity if there is any if I don't drop the original file into scrounger and likewise I can't see taking the file to the 10 machine. I need to get back to FF on my XP and it occurred to me I could rename all the FF related files and folders leaving the Original FF on the machine and the install a new copy. I haven't up graded because of some of the ad-ons i use so this would be a way to see if they will all still work as well as giving me time to see if this can be solved. Any thoughts? Thanks

TBUsseer said

Can I download scrounger to a thumb drive and can I run it in notepad? Here's the thing, If I add a new tab that may seal my fate. I need to download it to my win 10 machine and carry it across the air gap.

The scrounger is a web page with a couple of external script files. It will be useless in Notepad. You can run it in Chrome or IE11 or maybe Edge if you do not want to open a new tab in Firefox. Why don't you copy all your session history files from your XP machine to a thumb drive and inspect them on your windows 10 machine?

I need to get back to FF on my XP and it occurred to me I could rename all the FF related files and folders leaving the Original FF on the machine and the install a new copy. I haven't up graded because of some of the ad-ons i use so this would be a way to see if they will all still work as well as giving me time to see if this can be solved.

Windows XP tops out at Firefox 52 ESR (Extended Support Release). Do you already have that version? The ESR series gets security updates (now 52.3.0esr), but the major version number does not increment. What version do you have on your XP machine now?

I think it would make sense to back up your profile folder, but if you rename it then Firefox won't see any add-ons so that part of your test won't work.

Jscher2000, i have 52 but haven't wanted to install ESR for fear that the ad=ons won't work, so the idea is to rename FF and all of it's files. Then do a fresh install using 52 ERS go out to the web and down load the ad- ons to the new firefox.

When Firefox 52 was released, Windows XP and Windows Vista users should have been switched the the ESR branch automatically. If you view the Troubleshooting Information page again, does the "Update Channel" still show "release"?

If you want to get fresh settings, you can try the following, but this will result in a normal Firefox shutdown:

New Profile Test

This takes about 3 minutes, plus the time to test relevant sites/extensions.

Inside Firefox, type or paste about:profiles in the address bar and press Enter/Return to load it.

Click the Create a New Profile button, then click Next. Assign a name like Sept2017, ignore the option to relocate the profile folder, and click the Finish button.

After creating the profile, scroll down to it and click the Set as default profile button below that profile, then scroll back up and click the Restart normally button. (There are some other buttons, but I think those are still "under construction" so please ignore them.)

Firefox should exit and then start up using the new profile, which will just look brand new.

Does the new profile perform better, etc.?

When you are done with the experiment, open the about:profiles page again, click the Set as default profile button for your normal profile, then click the Restart normally button to get back to it.

Jscher2000, Sorry to be getting back to you so late. I have one thing I'm going to try before I set off on that adventure, which sounds promising. I'm going to run spinrite and see what it comes up with. I will take me a few days so I won't get back to you till next week with results. One thing, why do I want to ignore the option to relocate the profile folder? On another track, assuming that FF tracks when a tab has been closed, is there a program that can search my history and finds opened tabs that I have not closed, because that would be the list of tabs that are currently opened. Thanks

TBUsseer said

One thing, why do I want to ignore the option to relocate the profile folder?

The default location is safest. Firefox assumes it has total control of the profile folder. Sometimes users choose another folder which mixes Firefox data files with existing files, and when they remove that profile (either by using Refresh or deleting it manually), it blows away entire folders of documents or their whole desktop. Unless you are good about making backups, I suggest not even starting down that road.

On another track, assuming that FF tracks when a tab has been closed, is there a program that can search my history and finds opened tabs that I have not closed, because that would be the list of tabs that are currently opened.

The list of open and closed windows and tabs is kept in the session history file. There's no other source of data to reconstruct it. Windows programs can collect the titles of other windows, which includes the title of the active tab in each Firefox window, but if you wanted a list of all currently open pages in all tabs, I think you have two option:

(1) Extract the URLs from the live recovery.js file (for example, using the scrounger page) (2) Find an add-on which can build a list

TBUsseer said

I'm going to run spinrite and see what it comes up with. I will take me a few days so I won't get back to you till next week with results.

Hopefully that will not prevent recovery of deleted files, or mining restore points, in case those might be needed. If you haven't recovered your missing session history files yet, be cautious with any tools that may do deep cleaning.

Jscher2000, spinrite locates and tries to recover sector data as it was before the sector went bad. It doesn't actually clean anything. It leaves the good sectors alone. If it finds a bad sector and can recover it, it will cause Win to create a new sector and point to that instead.

(1) Extract the URLs from the live recovery.js file (for example, using the scrounger page). Since recovery .js is the corrupt file extraction isn't possible.

(2) Find an add-on which can build a list. This looks like the best way. As long as FF keeps a record of when I close the tabs then reading the meta-data should revel the information I need. Does scrounger allow me to read the meta-data? Do you know of an add-on or someone who might.

TBUsseer said

(1) Extract the URLs from the live recovery.js file (for example, using the scrounger page).
Since recovery .js is the corrupt file extraction isn't possible.

Did the Scrounger give a specific error, or nothing happened when you clicked Scrounge URLs?

(2) Find an add-on which can build a list.
This looks like the best way. As long as FF keeps a record of when I close the tabs then reading the meta-data should revel the information I need. Does scrounger allow me to read the meta-data? Do you know of an add-on or someone who might.

The data is in recovery.js (or other session history files), but the Scrounger ignores the fine points and just gets the page titles and URLs. I don't know if there are any add-ons to read all of the details of a session history file.