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Post by **Vectorspace** » October 19th, 2005, 12:29 am

Anonymous wrote:See also bug 234680, comment 20, "Uninstall should give the option to remove profile data". It was pointed out that allowing user to select which data to remove would automatically protect user files by removing only targeted profile files.

If you like to think big, this one might fix all profile problems, but bug 302087 is a much quicker, easier fix.. Mozilla has NO plans to fix either, however.

And the one bug they've left open, the one to improve the warning of the folder that Profile Manager will delete, has nobody assigned to it.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » October 19th, 2005, 1:26 am

Aunty, you don't need to throw out the computer, but it sounds like your hard drive needs to be reformatted and the OS re-installed.

If the devs don't think this is a major problem, they should take a look at this thread! I suggest that anyone who has been bitten by this bug Use the "Hendrix" quick feedback system:

http://hendrix.mozilla.org/

and make a report of what happened. We need to use whatever channels are available to drive home the point that this is a major dataloss problem.

Post by **Vectorspace** » October 19th, 2005, 2:19 am

[edit]wrong topic

Post by **James** » October 19th, 2005, 11:15 am

greenknight wrote:I suggest that anyone who has been bitten by this bug Use the "Hendrix" quick feedback system:

http://hendrix.mozilla.org/

and make a report of what happened. We need to use whatever channels are available to drive home the point that this is a major dataloss problem.

Providing feedback this way is a little useless if the person sending the feedback is expecting a response (as most do) as the only way they will get a response if ever is by directly responding to the email address they provide.

http://groups.google.ca/group/netscape. ... back?hl=en (if you see "Browser Details:" at bottom of posting, then it was posted by way of hendrix)

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » October 20th, 2005, 12:42 am

What I meant was, post Hendrix feedback too. Since they've hidden Hendrix where few are likely to see it, and I expect it gets little use, an outburst of messages about this problem might draw some attention.

epp_b · Post by **epp_b** » October 22nd, 2005, 7:38 pm

People, this is not a bug. This behaviour is as it should be.

No offense, but if you place a program-related files in a location where there are other [important] files, you're asking for trouble. It's unreasonable to expect arbitrary software (Firefox) to properly manage files that it was never designed to.

Firefox is deleting the entire profile directory (as it should), and not just looping through the contained files and deleting only the ones it installed. There are too many variable conditions where there could be other files from extensions/themes/plugins/etc. for it to know what it should and shouldn't delete (not to mention other files put there by th user).

Either a program deletes only the files it knows are "safe" to delete and leaves a mess on your hard drive; or it removes the entire directory as it should and leaves your system clean.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » October 22nd, 2005, 10:42 pm

epp_b wrote:People, this is not a bug. This behaviour is as it should be.

No offense, but if you place a program-related files in a location where there are other [important] files, you're asking for trouble. It's unreasonable to expect arbitrary software (Firefox) to properly manage files that it was never designed to.

Firefox is deleting the entire profile directory (as it should), and not just looping through the contained files and deleting only the ones it installed. There are too many variable conditions where there could be other files from extensions/themes/plugins/etc. for it to know what it should and shouldn't delete (not to mention other files put there by th user).

Either a program deletes only the files it knows are "safe" to delete and leaves a mess on your hard drive; or it removes the entire directory as it should and leaves your system clean.

You have a good point. The problem is that the user expects that the new profile will be created in its own directory, just as occurs when a profile is created in the default directory. The user is given no warning that this will not occur, and that is a bug.

epp_b · Post by **epp_b** » October 23rd, 2005, 11:22 am

You have a good point. The problem is that the user expects that the new profile will be created in its own directory, just as occurs when a profile is created in the default directory. The user is given no warning that this will not occur, and that is a bug.

I would say not so. The user should be able to specify the directory of their choice. By auto-creating a directory, it would be the start of Firefox dumbing down, which is far too prevalent in many software applications today.

It would be reasonable for Firefox to warn a user upon creating/moving a profile if the target dir already contains other files. However, this is by no means a bug, it is just the way this software works. A "bug" is defined by a programming error in a piece of software that causes an undesired result. Sure, there is the "undesired result", but it is caused by "user error" not a "programming error".

To expect Firefox to know what files it should manage is ridiculous if there is user error. Users need to manage their software, not the other way around.

Would you rather Firefox leave randomly-placed unused files cluttering up your hard drive and OS like most other software does?

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » October 23rd, 2005, 11:36 pm

I consider a poorly designed UI to be a bug as much as any other programming error. If a user is allowed to create a condition that could lead to major dataloss without any warning being given, that is poorly designed UI.

Post by **Vectorspace** » October 24th, 2005, 12:16 am

It's not a bug in the strict sense of the word, but it is still undesired operation as far as the majority of users are concerned.

trojjer · Post by **trojjer** » March 22nd, 2007, 4:35 pm

Hi, my friend's in disbelief at the moment, as am I, after accidentally selecting "Delete Files" and wiping most of his My Documents folder. Come on, it's a BUG! Arrogance and pompous debate is not helpful to the user; especially not the poor person who mistyped the command line argument on a keyboard that he wasn't used to, thereby omitting the backslash and declaring his C drive ROOT FOLDER as the profile directory to use!

This is entirely unacceptable, no matter how big or prominent the warning is -- a dedicated subfolder should be created for all profiles unless the user selects otherwise. And even then, surely it would be a simple matter for Mozilla to filter the files that are within that folder, especially if it's HUGE in comparison to the default size, so that only the relevant profile/extension stuff is ever touched? It's quite absurd.

NonTechSavvy · Post by **NonTechSavvy** » December 20th, 2007, 12:42 am

Here's another one in disbelief. I erased all docs on my desktop. My original problem was that the T-account kept disappearing, or the profile was not found. I only began to have this problem after the latest update. I still don't know how to make the profile more easy to locate, I just don't seem to get the instructions. I don't know anything about coding, I just use this machine. I cannot believe that a fecking MAIL program can take over my entire user account if I make a mistake. I'm not going to install thunderbird again, ever, if making a mistake with it can result in the erasure of e.g. my PhD dissertation. Luckily, that didn't happen this time. But I am seriously upset now.

greenknight · Post by **greenknight** » December 20th, 2007, 4:32 am

Thunderbird? This is the Firefox Support forum!

I imagine the issue is the same, though - if you choose a location different from the default for the profile, you need to create a folder there to put it in. No coding is involved; just right-click -> New -> Folder. Then choose the new, empty folder as the destination when you create the new profile.

If you allow the profile wizard to put the profile in the default location, this problem doesn't arise. Creating a profile in a different location is not the solution for the problems you were having originally, anyway. See:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_ ... isappeared

mirasol · Post by **mirasol** » August 21st, 2009, 2:09 pm

It just happened to me, in 2009!! They still haven't fixed this??? There is NOT a FAIR Warning!

Post by **Dartman** » August 21st, 2009, 2:17 pm

Don't reply to threads that are this old. Start a new thread explaining your problem in detail.

Closing this thread.

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Can't BELIEVE this is still happening!

did it

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