# Why did I lose all my favorites and can I get them back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205 "2004-11-17T05:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/1 "2004-11-17T05:05:00Z")
My Windows ‘Favorites’ is suddenly blank. [grrrrr ☹] How come? And is there any way to retrieve them? ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/2 "2004-11-17T05:46:29Z")
- - - If this happened with Internet Explorer, switch to one of the Mozilla browsers. I have only ever seen this happen with IE, never other browsers. Last time IE did it to me was just a couple weeks ago, when I downloaded and ran the SP2 update. The favorites list in the user profile I used to download and run the update were gone afterwards, which was my own user profile. Favorites in other user profiles were still there, just mine were gone. I didn’t really care as I use Mozilla normally anyway and nothing in the IE favorites was real important, but it is amusing that MS can’t even upgrade their own fucking software without screwing it up. …For what it’s worth, IE stores bookmarks differently than other browsers–IE stores them as a bunch of separate desktop shortcuts, while Mozilla browsers store them as actual hyperinks in a file named “bookmarks.html”, in each user profile. ~ ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/3 "2004-11-17T16:04:06Z")
Thanks, **DougC** , Yes, I use IE. Time to change, huh. And no way to get them back, right? [yes they _were_ important ☹] ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/4 "2004-11-17T16:28:14Z")
Just reload them from your backups. You do make regular backups, right? You can never have too many backups. (I’ve learned this from experience – can’t tell you how many times my backups have saved my bacon after a crash.) ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/5 "2004-11-17T16:45:36Z")
I’m sorry, **Scarlett67** , I don’t know what you mean. \*::feeling such a dummy right now:: \* My computer language is in Dutch and I’m not sure what a ‘backup’ is? Thank you so much anyway. I’m a :wally ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/6 "2004-11-17T17:43:22Z")
Assuming I’m not being whooshed . . . A backup is when you periodically copy your important data to another location: an external drive, CD, floppy. That way when your computer goes tits up, you accidentally delete something, a file gets corrupted, etc., you have something to fall back on. I’m self-employed and to lose my data would be like a death in the family. I have two external hard drives that I rotate between home and my safe-deposit box at the bank. On each drive I do a full backup and then nightly incremental backups (files that changed since the last backup). Every week to two weeks I switch them. I also periodically copy essential data files to CD-Rs. Mighty handy when I accidentally overwrite a file (I use old files as templates for new ones and sometimes forget to “Save As” right away) – I just pull up yesterday’s version from the external drive. And if the house goes up in smoke, I have a backup at the bank that’s less than two weeks old. Important when the computer is a means for paying the bills. A few times I’ve had to do quickie emergency backups onto floppies, and that worked just fine for short-term. I also know someone who copies her essential files nightly onto a thumb drive. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/7 "2004-11-17T18:14:10Z")
I ask myself this question every day. Nothing to do with computers, though… ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/8 "2004-11-17T18:17:49Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > Just reload them from your backups. You do make regular backups, right? > > You can never have too many backups. (I’ve learned this from experience – can’t tell you how many times my backups have saved my bacon after a crash.) Anyone who doesn’t and runs Windows is a fool. And even if you run another OS, it isn’t a matter of if your hard drive fails, but instead when. Which part of always back up your data is unclear and I need to explain this further? ---
**Author:** ![peri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/67e7ee/32.png) [@peri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peri)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/9 "2004-11-17T18:37:31Z")
Can’t you use your **Restore** function? (Or whatever it’s called under your OS.) I use a stand alone program called **GoBack** on my old Win98se machine. It’s saved me many times. Newer OSs seem to have the function built in. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/10 "2004-11-17T19:43:58Z")
> [@peri](#): > > Can’t you use your **Restore** function? (Or whatever it’s called under your OS.) I use a stand alone program called **GoBack** on my old Win98se machine. It’s saved me many times. Newer OSs seem to have the function built in. This may work if your hard drive doesn’t die. Of course if the hard drive does die, you’d better damn well have all your data backed up elsewhere. OS backups functions are useless if a hard drive failure means you no longer have an OS. In that case, its get out the screwdriver, slap in another hard drive, and move on from there. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-i-lose-all-my-favorites-and-can-i-get-them-back/275205/11 "2004-11-17T22:18:18Z")
No, no **Scarlett67** , you were not wooshed. Like **rfgdxm** mentioned; I’m a fool. As far as computers are concerned. 😃 Thank you for the explanation. [hehehehe, **Biffy the Elephant Shrew** :)] Originally posted by **rfgdxm** > [@](#): > > - > > Which part of always back up your data is unclear and I need to explain this further?\* I’m very sorry, Sir. I’ll do my homework next time. **peri** , I’ll try that [my hard drive is still alive and kicking] _::going to find ‘Restore’ - whatever that may be. ::_ Thanks all, from a computer illiterate who likes to stay that way. [Hey, if my washing machine breaks I get someone to fix it. I don’t need to know what’s going on inside the thing. Same goes for the computer. If it dies, I’ll buy a new one :)]