Wow that is a weird looking purple theme. I have not researched about this "Cache" folder when I was using Windows XP but in what you have shown, I believe that those files listed and sorted there are actually what the "Cache" folder should contain and maybe, just maybe, Windows XP does not have a "Cache" folder at all for Firefox.
Hi
Microsoft have far too many folders with identical names and confusion of paths.
I think you have been digging into
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Application Data\........... where you need instead
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Local Settings\Application Data\
On my system the file "extensions.cache" is in one specific location :-
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jzj1inju.default .... you actually need
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jzj1inju.default\Cache
I think you have been looking at sshot-157.gif - the larger attached image with no name ! !
This has extensions.cache which is not what we need.
The cache we need is the second item down on the right, as shown in sshot-155.gif
This shows a folder size of 1.84 MB when I started this reply,
it is now up to 2.00 MB without me switching TABs or doing anything but uploading images.
My cache holds 23 files with last modified dates = created dates,
ranging from 16/05/2010 10:06 through to 16/05/2010 10:20
plus one created at 10:14 and modified at 11:11
and another brand new one created and modified at 11:11.
The folder cache was created at 10:06 and last modified at 11:11
Along side your Cache could be Cache(2), Cache(3) etc.
If they are not there you could try going back to an earlier Restore Point,
and take very careful note of what System Restore says about the Cache(3) etc etc.
especially the path, because there are many caches on my system that have nothing to do with Firefox.
If you can find one that was modified before your disaster that will hold pre-disaster data,
but as I previously commented, I do not know whether cache holds what you need,
I was only explaining how Cache(3) etc comes into existence.
Regards
Alan
Shouldn't you be looking for history.dat any way?
1. Pleasant surprise that my images have file names.
Some months ago any uploaded images were anonymous - i.e. the file names were not shown on the forum.
2. I see no advice from anyone upon the actual contents of Cache, nor of where browsing history is kept.
Just Googled for
firefox 3.6 browser history location
That gives "About 127,000 results (0.20 seconds)", and I looked at
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/profiles
That says
places.sqlite - This file contains all your Firefox bookmarks and a list of websites you have previously visited.
The only places.sqlite I can find is at
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jzj1inju.default
On my system that was created 19 August 2008, 11:30:15
and modified on 16 May 2010, 12:02:47
I see no evidence within my Restore Points of any *.sqlite
so I do not think it is available to restore,
i.e. Microsoft decided this was a "User Document" to omit from Restore Points,
rather than a "System File" to be included.
Places.sqlite comes from one result out of 127,000,
there may be another 126,999 possibilities to explore ! !
OOPS - CORRECTION
Just seen Ident has posted the suggestion of history.dat.
I will not argue - he could be right.
I have just searched and history.dat does not exist on my system,
but it may appear when I close Firefox and it tidies up and closes,
in which case it will disappear as I use CCleaner to clean and shut down at the end of the day.
Regards
Alan
1. Pleasant surprise that my images have file names.
Some months ago any uploaded images were anonymous - i.e. the file names were not shown on the forum.
2. I see no advice from anyone upon the actual contents of Cache, nor of where browsing history is kept.
Just Googled for
firefox 3.6 browser history location
That gives "About 127,000 results (0.20 seconds)", and I looked at
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/profiles
That says
places.sqlite - This file contains all your Firefox bookmarks and a list of websites you have previously visited.
The only places.sqlite I can find is at
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\jzj1inju.default
On my system that was created 19 August 2008, 11:30:15
and modified on 16 May 2010, 12:02:47
I see no evidence within my Restore Points of any *.sqlite
so I do not think it is available to restore,
i.e. Microsoft decided this was a "User Document" to omit from Restore Points,
rather than a "System File" to be included.
Places.sqlite comes from one result out of 127,000,
there may be another 126,999 possibilities to explore ! !
OOPS - CORRECTION
Just seen Ident has posted the suggestion of history.dat.
I will not argue - he could be right.
I have just searched and history.dat does not exist on my system,
but it may appear when I close Firefox and it tidies up and closes,
in which case it will disappear as I use CCleaner to clean and shut down at the end of the day.
Regards
Alan
I also could find no evidence of history.dat but that is likely due to me being in private browsing 24/7
*Edit*
i think history.dat is previous to 3.0
*Edit*
places.sqlite is for browser history and bookmarks from versions 3.0 and up.
So alan is correct.
FORUM WEBSITE ERROR
After Preview I posted and was told I needed a Topic Title.
It did not remember I was answering and assumed a new topic.
To avoid typing I clicked BACK 2 or 3 times till me typing appeared,
and I again tried Add Reply, and suddenly my post is duplicated ! !
Alan
Your presence on any website is likely to be recorded, especially if you logged on with a password.
If you have done a lot of browsing on one particular site with a User name / Password,
it may be worth asking their moderators / web-site masters etc. if they can advise when you were there, and what you did there.
Another possibility might be your ISP which holds records that can be interrogated to determine if your allocated IP address was responsible for downloading copyright material. It is possible they will also hold some records of what sites you visited, and may be able to help.
Big brother is watching us all the time ! !
Google knows everything about you, and where you have been.
Even Chinese intelligence knew less and had to hack Google ! ! !
Google and the CIA could possess all your browsing history,
but they are unlikely to to assist in this matter.
Alan
LOL, Alan!
Seriously though, I know about the various .sqlite databases - the annoying thing is you can backup your bookmarks (I do that every day and keep a weeks worth) but it doesn't backup your browsing history (or if it does CCleaner took that file out as well) - restoring a previous bookmark file was one of the first things I tried when I did this! I am resigned to the fact that I HAVE lost my data, I guess I'll have to start over again. Now all I want to do is get to the bottom of this Cache thing, because it is making me cranky! I'll try your suggestion later today, I have to rush now I've got a dentist's appointment (YUK). Ciao, Kaelkitty.
PS I told you that you know stuff I need to know!
LOL, Alan!
Seriously though, I know about the various .sqlite databases - the annoying thing is you can backup your bookmarks (I do that every day and keep a weeks worth) but it doesn't backup your browsing history
To avoid future disaster you may want to consider installing the Firefox add-on FEBE:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2109/
That will backup your history (as well as bookmarks, cookies, etc etc, basically everything Firefox related) and can be scheduled to run every day if you so wish, or you can just do it manually as and when needed.
Dear JD,
Sorry to take so long to reply, but I wanted to try out the automatic features of the FEBE program. Last night it worked perfectly. I have now got (I think) excellent coverage for all eventualities. Each night FEBE runs at 1AM, Spybot S&D runs at 2AM and automatically creates a System Restore point in the process, and then AVG runs at 4 AM. By the time I get up and back at my desk it's all ready to go.
I have also found the 3 Cache folders in the ..local.. directory. I am not quite sure if or what I am going to do with them yet as the filenames are unhelpful and on looking at them I doubt they contain what I wanted anyway. Now, if I could just get organised to do my offsite backups! I really want to get myself a pair of decent sized external drives, but the 1 terabytes I have my eye on are still over the $100 dollar mark apiece and that is a bit rich for me at the moment - my disability pension payment level was not designed for the computer aware, I am afraid.
I think I should probably call this discussion CLOSED at this point, as it has veered far away from the topic of CCleaner. I would like to say thank you again to Ishi and Alan and JD for each helping to advance my knowledge of what is going on "under the hood". I do really appreciate the time and trouble all of you have gone to on my behalf. My Asperger's Syndrome makes it very difficult for me some times - I am VERY literal in my approach to things, and more than anything else I find the obfuscation that many programs indulge in in order to make computers "User Friendly" just drives me up the wall. That probably goes a long way to explaining why I am still running XP with the Windows Classic interface on a Pentium 4 that was built in 2004!
Thanks again all, I will bookmark this window and check in one last time in about a week, just in case you have any final tips or comments.
Bye for Now, KK.
PS Alan
LOL!Big brother is watching us all the time ! !
Google knows everything about you, and where you have been.
Even Chinese intelligence knew less and had to hack Google ! ! !
Google and the CIA could possess all your browsing history,
but they are unlikely to to assist in this matter.
I don't mind - I have NO secrets on my computer. I tell everyone if you have secrets DON'T PUT THEM ON A COMPUTER! I mean I have the basic stuff, like the passwords to forums and stuff like that but nothing that anyone would be interested in so I am not over-worried. I have NO Job, NO Money, NO credit rating, and a 40 year history of Mental Disability - Not even an identity thief would want to know me. LOL!
Dear JD,
Sorry to take so long to reply, but I wanted to try out the automatic features of the FEBE program. Last night it worked perfectly. I have now got (I think) excellent coverage for all eventualities. Each night FEBE runs at 1AM, Spybot S&D runs at 2AM and automatically creates a System Restore point in the process, and then AVG runs at 4 AM. By the time I get up and back at my desk it's all ready to go.
I have also found the 3 Cache folders in the ..local.. directory. I am not quite sure if or what I am going to do with them yet as the filenames are unhelpful and on looking at them I doubt they contain what I wanted anyway. Now, if I could just get organised to do my offsite backups! I really want to get myself a pair of decent sized external drives, but the 1 terabytes I have my eye on are still over the $100 dollar mark apiece and that is a bit rich for me at the moment - my disability pension payment level was not designed for the computer aware, I am afraid.
I think I should probably call this discussion CLOSED at this point, as it has veered far away from the topic of CCleaner. I would like to say thank you again to Ishi and Alan and JD for each helping to advance my knowledge of what is going on "under the hood". I do really appreciate the time and trouble all of you have gone to on my behalf. My Asperger's Syndrome makes it very difficult for me some times - I am VERY literal in my approach to things, and more than anything else I find the obfuscation that many programs indulge in in order to make computers "User Friendly" just drives me up the wall. That probably goes a long way to explaining why I am still running XP with the Windows Classic interface on a Pentium 4 that was built in 2004!
Thanks again all, I will bookmark this window and check in one last time in about a week, just in case you have any final tips or comments.
Bye for Now, KK.
PS Alan
LOL!
I don't mind - I have NO secrets on my computer. I tell everyone if you have secrets DON'T PUT THEM ON A COMPUTER! I mean I have the basic stuff, like the passwords to forums and stuff like that but nothing that anyone would be interested in so I am not over-worried. I have NO Job, NO Money, NO credit rating, and a 40 year history of Mental Disability - Not even an identity thief would want to know me. LOL!
KK, Nice touch with the quote about Big Brother. It's a great hobby keeping up on them.
KK, Nice touch with the quote about Big Brother. It's a great hobby keeping up on them.
PS: KK, forgot to mention, recent article stated Google has retained EVERY search since its inception. I'm certain that includes every G-Mail ever written. Hope you don't have anything too juicy if you use their mail client. Sometime watch "Three Days of the Condor" and "Enemy of the State." Sorry if I got out of bounds with this. Have a good one.
PS: KK, forgot to mention, recent article stated Google has retained EVERY search since its inception. I'm certain that includes every G-Mail ever written. Hope you don't have anything too juicy if you use their mail client. Sometime watch "Three Days of the Condor" and "Enemy of the State." Sorry if I got out of bounds with this. Have a good one.
Do you honestly think Google give two hoots about the drivel contained in 99% of the billions of emails and web searches made? "Ooh, look, John just sent an email saying Hi howya doing, log and store that, it'll be invaluable". Come on
Seriously, I've had issues with one or two of their practices in the past but the amount of fud and conspiracy theories around Google is ridiculous.
I do not know if Supermarket chain Tesco keep their customer Loyalty Card purchase data as Google Docs on Google servers.
I do not know if Tesco consider Google to be an affiliate / partner / or some other entity that the Tesco EULA permits to access my data.
I DO KNOW that last year the weekly Gmail grocery mailshot from a different supermarket chain, NETTO, of up-coming next week bargains suddenly triggered Google suggestions to mark next week's calendar to remind me to purchase 3 or 4 out of the 100 bargains on offer.
All very tastefully done.
Strange that I have never bought groceries on-line, or even Internet searched for groceries,
yet Google accurately detected which 3% to 4% of the bargain groceries would be of interest to me! ! !
A shopping assistant possessing my Tesco Loyalty purchase history could not have made a more accurate selection.
Once these suggestions occurred each week, they continued until NETTO changed the mailshot content from searchable plain text to unsearchable images of products.
I do love a good conspiracy theory ! ! !
In this case I consider no particular harm done,
but a salutatory reminder that "I am not alone",
what I say and see may leak out with no warning.
Alan
Use a flie recovery program to find places.sqlite (history & bookmarks), history.dat (history), localstore.rdf (toolbars), sessionstore.js (session) and sessionstore.bak (session).
To attempt to recover Firefox history, use ff3hr. In order to use this program you will first need to make a disk clone.
Cache files are completely useless. A cache is some downloaded files that are stores on your computer the first time you visit a website in anticipation of possible very-slightly-faster loading on future visits.
I am absolutely amazed that with everyone professing high levels of computer knowledge, no one knows which Firefox files are relevant and no one has told you to ignore the damn cache file.
Please check dates of post before commenting
Welcome to the forum by the way.