If you have not tried shutting down and restarting Windows since this problem occurred, I suggest trying that. Some users have reported a problem after Windows updates where they only see partial information in Firefox, perhaps as a result of a privileges issue.

After that, if the problem continues, I'll ask you to check for a parallel settings folder. 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" button. This should launch a new window listing various files and folders in Windows Explorer.

Make a note of the current folder name in the Windows Explorer address bar, then click the word "Profiles" that appears before it to navigate up one level and see whether you find any other profile folders there. If you check inside, do any of the bookmarkbackups folders in other profiles appear to be current?

IMPORTANT: Avoid using the Windows System Restore feature as that can cause permanent data loss.

I love you man.

it wasn't the restart, it was in a different folder

after clicking "show folder" and it launched windows explorer, there is no "profile" at the top, but when i clicked firefox, then there was a profile folder, and inside of that were all the old bookmark backups!

If you are missing other things, you could probably switch from your current profile to that other one using the Profile Manager. This article has the steps:

Profile Manager - Create, remove or switch Firefox profiles

Since it's too easy to delete the wrong profile in the profile manager, I suggest not deleting anything there without first backing up your important data.