We depend on our bookmarks to save us the time of entering the URL of a site each time we want to visit it. Many of us rely on our bookmarks every time we go online. So if you open your Web browser and discover those bookmarks aren’t there, that’s a problem you can’t ignore.

Chances are the root of the problem doesn’t require a high-tech solution. The bookmarks are somewhere on your system. Here’s how to find them.

Internet Explorer

First, let’s establish where the Favorites in IE (Internet Explorer) are stored. Of course, you know you can access them through the Favorites menu in IE. But they are stored on your hard drive in the Documents And Settings folder in a folder withyour username.

The path looks like this: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\USERNAME\Favorites.

Favorites in IE are tied to User Accounts in Microsoft Windows. User Accounts allow multiple users of the same computer to create their own settings, personal preferences—such as the look of Desktop icons—and their own list of Favorites. So, when someone logs on to Windows using their personal account and then launches IE, he will see the list of Favorites he has created. When another user logs on using her own account, she will see her list of Favorites in IE.

One possible reason that the list of Favorites is missing is that you are not logged on through your User Account. To rectify this, click Start, Log Off, and Switch User and then log on through your User Account. When you do this, Windows will load all your preferences and settings, including your Favorites.

When Favorites aren’t accessible through IE, it’s possible that the User Account has been corrupted. If this is the case, one solution is to use System Restore (click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and System Restore) to roll your system back to a time before the profile became corrupted. By itself, System Restore doesn’t change the Favorites list. But because the list is directly tied into User Accounts, which System Restore can affect, this tool is one option for retrieving your Favorites.

You can access a restore point that Windows automatically created, or if you created a restore point before the error occurred, you can use that point. Either way, Windows will revert to a point before the User Account became corrupted.

Firefox

When users make the switch from IE to another Web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox or Opera, they need to import their Favorites from IE to the Bookmarks menu of the new browser. Firefox makes it easy to do this: In the Bookmarks menu, choose Organize Bookmarks to open the Bookmarks Manager. Then choose Import from the File menu and select the appropriate source.

Once you’ve established that the importation of the Bookmarks was successful, then, similar to Internet Explorer, the most likely reason for Bookmarks disappearing is if a file has become corrupted—specifically, the Localstore.rdf file.

To see if this is the case, open the Bookmarks Manager by selecting the Bookmarks menu and Organize Bookmarks. If the Bookmarks appear here, but not in the Bookmarks list, then that confirms the Localstore.rdf file is bad. (This file is found in C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOZILLA FIREFOX\DEFAULTS\Profile.)

Before you can fix the corrupted file, you’ll need to exit Firefox and then restart it in Safe Mode. Click Start, All Programs, and Mozilla Firefox and from this folder choose the Safe Mode option.

In the Safe Mode dialog box, select the Reset Toolbars And Controls checkbox and then click Make Changes And Restart. Close Firefox and then restart it in normal mode. When you do, your Bookmarks will hopefully appear in the Bookmarks menu.

Another option is to install the list of backup Bookmarks that Firefox automatically generates and stores on your hard drive. It’s easy to import this, but you’ll have to dig through a number of layers to find it.

Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Organize Bookmarks. In the Bookmarks Manager window, choose File, Import, and From File and click Next. In the search window that opens, navigate to the C: drive and choose Documents And Settings, [USERNAME], Application Data, Mozilla, Firefox, and Profiles. Now you’ll see a default folder, such as 60ze1avt.default. Click on this and then open the Bookmark-backups folder. From the list that appears, choose the one closest to the current date. Highlight it and click Open. Your bookmarks will now appear in Firefox.

Opera

Finding lost Bookmarks in Opera is a matter of finding the Bookmark file, named Opera6.adr by default.

Open the Bookmarks menu in Opera and choose Manage Bookmarks. Next, open File in the toolbar and choose Open. In the dialog box that appears after you choose Open, you will see the Opera6.adr file. Highlight it and click Open, and your Bookmarks should appear.

If this option does not work, Opera suggests reimporting your Bookmarks—from itself, oddly enough. You’ll need to access the same file as above, but through a slightly different route. From the File menu in Bookmarks, choose Import Opera Bookmarks and then open the Defaults folder. You’ll see the Opera6.adr file; highlight it and click Open.

If neither of these options work, then that means the Opera6.adr file is bad, and you’ll need to import your Bookmarks from your previous Web browser (open File and choose the import option that corresponds with the appropriate browser). You should also, as Opera recommends, make a backup of your Bookmarks regularly and save it on a disc.

That’s good advice regardless of which Web browser you are using, even one that makes automatic backups. If you lose your bookmarks or favorites alltogether, it could take a while to repopulate your list.

by Rachel Derowitsch