Solved Lost favorites IE9

claireo · Jul 7, 2011

I have "lost" my favorites list, not immediately after, but about a week after downloading Explorer 9. No entries are shown when I display the Favorites list.
None of the solutions offered so far have worked.
My Favorites folder is still under my user name, with all data intact.
If I try to save a favorite that already exists in my old favorites, Explorer tells me that it is already there and do I want to overwrite. If i try to save new favorites, IE will also say new favorites were added but they are not displayed in the drop down on browser.

I have tried reseting IE, and i have reset folder location, but nothing works. I have even un-installed and then re-installed IE but still nothing. All the favorites can be displayed if i type bookmark in the START> and perform a search.

PC info: Windows vista 32bit

Please help.

richc46 · Jul 7, 2011

Welcome
Try this easy and hopefully successful solution
Download Shadow Explorer and then use it to go back to good times when the favorites worked properly.
http://www.shadowexplorer.com/

Brink · Jul 7, 2011

Hello Claireo, and welcome to Vista Forums.

Double check by doing OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to make sure that your C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites folder is still set to it's default location.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

claireo · Jul 7, 2011

hello Brink, Thanks for your quick reply...

I have tried this and no joy....the drop down is still blank - could this be an issue with the browser?

If i press ALT to expose the tool bar along the top, when i click on favorites my pc crashes...if i use the star on the right in explorer 9 the drop down is empty and will not add new favorites if i try to save old favorites it says they are already there.

any ideas...?

richc46 · Jul 7, 2011

You may want to try Shadow, even if it does not work in this case its a great feature for the future.
Under a different name, its included with Windows Seven and the higher priced editions of Vista.

If Brink comes by with a solution that is better, you can always use his suggestion and have the great software for future use.

claireo · Jul 7, 2011

thanks - but the folder is there its on my c drive - i can access them but they are not on IE9 in my browser...they were showing on safari.

thankyou

Brink · Jul 7, 2011

ShadowExplorer is good if you have missing files and need to try and recover them from their original location. Since they are still in the "C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites" folder, they are not missing, but just some link association is broken to not allow them to be seen in Internet Explorer.

You might see if resetting IE9 using Option Two in the tutorial below may help.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/114310-internet-explorer-reset.html

Are you having any other issues on your computer?

claireo · Jul 8, 2011

Hello brink,

i have found a second favorites folder with the same location - i deleted it tonight but internet explorer is still not displaying favorites. I did try reseting IE before i deleted the second favorites folder and it did not work - i will try reseting it tomorrow now i have deleted the second folder.
You asked if there were any other issues with my computer, there is......
3 different virus scans showing 0 infections but still have the following problems
after 3 or 4 attemps of accessing docs, my computer and/or programmes etc the computer starts to run very slow or even crash - some of the symptoms are...
*computer slow in start>search tab
*shows white panel if i try to load documents
*looses google tool bar intermitantly and bottom display freezes including the clock
*google searchs say search retun in 20secs but actually takes upto a minuite
*desktop icon white paper with folded corner
*google/microsoft not responding messages all the time
*if i restart the computer for upto 5mins everything work fine, then all the above recur

also dont know if this is significant but in task manager it shows the CPU usage at 100%

on another forum they mention a ghost file which is created by IE which saves the favorites to the same location but they cant be seen - do you know anymore about this?

Thankyou
sorry for the rant

- but im about ready to download the computer from the third floor window!:sa:

Brink · Jul 8, 2011

I'd say to triple check by doing all of the steps in OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to make sure that your C:\Users\(user-name)\Favorites folder is still set to that default location. This is the usual cause for Favorites issues in Internet Explorer.

Personal User Folder - Restore Missing Folder

Does the desktop icon with the white paper work? Could you post a screenshot of this?

claireo · Jul 9, 2011

hello brink,

just found out where my favorites are going.....

davidlight>favorites>links>links>newfolder

they are saving to this folder - they are not in the browser or where my current favorites are.....within my favorites file there is no 'newfolder'

????

richc46 · Jul 9, 2011

There can be other possibilities, but I would check to see if it is hidden.
File and Folder - Hide or Unhide - Windows 7 Forums
for Vista, too.

Brink · Jul 9, 2011

Claireo,

Did you do all of the steps in OPTION TWO of the tutorial below for the Favorites folder?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148461-personal-user-folder-restore-missing-folder.html

claireo · Jul 9, 2011

i have reset the folder manually with the register - is that what the links are...?

today i have unistalled IE9 and reverted back to IE8 favorites are now being saved into the favorites folder (no longer under username>favorites>links>links)i have reset IE8, however still not able to view in browser.....why is it not recognising the favorites folder?

CPU goes to 100% if i try to open favorites - i have to keep restarting....explorer.exe is using 80-90%.....?

claireo · Jul 9, 2011

hi brink - cpu was maxing out if i tried to access folders causing all the crashing listed above.

i have fixed it by temporarily moving all your favorites out of the favorites folder and the cpu stabilized. i will now start to move favorites back into their folder in small groups and check the state of the cpu after each move, until i find which group of links may be maxing out the cpu.

thanks for your advice and time - my issue is now fixed!!!!
hope this helps other people - it wasnt IE after all!

D:D

Brink · Jul 9, 2011

That's great news Claireo, and you're most welcome. We're happy to hear that you got it sorted.

richc46 · Jul 9, 2011

I share Brinks happiness over the recovery of your favorites. To avoid the possibility of a similar situation in the future, you may want to consider backing them up to a flash drive. Just go to file (on the top left) and then import and export. I wish you luck.

Solved Lost favorites IE9

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