Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

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incurablegeek
Posts: 21
Joined: June 11th, 2012, 8:20 am

Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by incurablegeek »

This is a huge issue on the net. I literally see it everywhere.

With all my tinkering, saves, restores and updates, many of my Bookmark and Toolbar favicons are gone.

Questions:

1) Are favicons from sites used as spyware, such that not having them is a plus?
2) Should I remove all favicons? If so, how?
3) If favicons are not a security problem, how can I restore them? (If you have the answer to that one, you can make big money on the net! :lol:

Useful Info? http://msujaws.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/an-update-to-site-identity-in-desktop-firefox/
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mightyglydd
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by mightyglydd »

incurablegeek wrote:This is a huge issue on the net. I literally see it everywhere.

A huge issue :-k Do you mean attention wh***s using large fonts on forums ?
Useful Info?

Not really. Old news around here.
#KeepFightingMichael and Alex.
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the-edmeister
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by the-edmeister »

If you restored a JSON bookmarks backup file your Favicons will be gone until each bookmarked page is loaded the first time. Also, if you used Sync to restore bookmarks (a JSON file) or to have Sync data on a "new" device, the Favicons won't be there. JSON bookmarks files don't contain the Favicom data - for now. IIRC, Firefox 15 will include Favicons in the Sync data.



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A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Mine has wandered off and I'm out looking for it.
FrankTheTank
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by FrankTheTank »

I think the OP is being paranoid.
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Gingerbread Man
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Gingerbread Man »

1) Bookmark icons are not an issue. Site icons in other parts of the interface (e.g. Options window - Applications panel) are downloaded from the server hosting them, and when that happens, cookies can be set and read. So yes, those particular icons could be used to track you.

2) No, but you can set browser.chrome.favicons and browser.chrome.site_icons to false if you really want to.

3) There's no automated way that I know of. Unfortunately, the CheckPlaces extension has been removed by its author.
incurablegeek
Posts: 21
Joined: June 11th, 2012, 8:20 am

Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by incurablegeek »

Re: "A huge issue :-k Do you mean attention wh***s using large fonts on forums ?" C'mon. You can do better than that. I enlarged these micro fonts out of consideration for the reader.

Re: "I think the OP is being paranoid." All I can say is read more, then you will know more.

Gingerbread Man, Thanks for the useful info, some of which I was already aware of. (I read a lot and talk very little. :roll: ) Re: "Site icons in other parts of the interface (e.g. Options window - Applications panel) are downloaded from the server hosting them, and when that happens, cookies can be set and read. So yes, those particular icons could be used to track you." Thanks. That substantiates what I have read elsewhere on the net. Hence, OP is paranoid. [-X

the-edmeister, Re: "Firefox 15 will include Favicons in the Sync data." Thanks. That is really, really good to know. =D>

Thanks for all the useful info. Some of you fellows, though, need to leave the sarcasm at the door. I believe that if you have nothing to say, it is just better to say nothing. :)
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Frank Lion
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Frank Lion »

incurablegeek wrote: I believe that if you have nothing to say, it is just better to ...

...post smilies instead?
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Daledoc1
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Daledoc1 »

Gingerbread Man wrote:3) Unfortunately, the CheckPlaces extension has been removed by its author.


Kindly excuse my intrusion, but that's a bummer! :(
Yanked completely! :(

I've used it a few times to recover favicons when importing a JSON bookmark backup into a new profile, and to maintain my bookmarks.

I hadn't noticed (been running using it for quite some time and I presume it's not a compatibility issue, at least for now with Fx 13 (I still have it installed on both my rigs).
Is this because of the different way that favicons (and/or bookmarks) will be handled in future versions of Fx?
Or did the dev just give up?
Should I uninstall it?

Just curious and trying to learn.

Thanks and again, sorry for the intrusion,

daledoc1
Updated specs: Longtime TB user. Currently on Win10 desktop (about to die), Win7 desktop (temporarily resuscitated), backup Win7 laptop (decommissioning soon), and -- soon -- Win11 PRO x64 desktop.
incurablegeek
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by incurablegeek »

Daledoc1, Not an intrusion at all. I too am disappointed to see CheckPlaces gone and would appreciate learning more about such programs from those more in the know about FF.

Thanks for the intrusion. :idea:
Daledoc1
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Daledoc1 »

Hi, incurablegeek:

Well, I just checked out the dev's homepage for the extensions.
He explained things quite clearly.

I've written both to him in support, and to Mozilla to express my displeasure.

Quite a disappointment -- aside from a handful of privacy extensions, Check Places was probably the single most useful and handy extension.
There are other bookmark extensions, I'm sure -- perhaps one of the experts here will have a suggestion for at least a temporary replacement?

But Check Places did what it said and said what it did...

Shows to go you -- "progress" isn't always in forward direction, eh?

Thanks for your indulgence,

daledoc1
Updated specs: Longtime TB user. Currently on Win10 desktop (about to die), Win7 desktop (temporarily resuscitated), backup Win7 laptop (decommissioning soon), and -- soon -- Win11 PRO x64 desktop.
KWierso
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by KWierso »

CheckPlaces is still accessible elsewhere: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-U ... aces.shtml


I'd be interested in learning what was so horrible that the addon dev didn't just stop working on the addons, but actively removed them from AMO and scrubbed them from his site.
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Frank Lion
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Frank Lion »

KWierso wrote:I'd be interested in learning what was so horrible that the addon dev didn't just stop working on the addons, but actively removed them from AMO and scrubbed them from his site.

You ever had any extensions or themes on the AMO site?
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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KWierso
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by KWierso »

Frank Lion wrote:
KWierso wrote:I'd be interested in learning what was so horrible that the addon dev didn't just stop working on the addons, but actively removed them from AMO and scrubbed them from his site.

You ever had any extensions or themes on the AMO site?

Yes?
Daledoc1
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Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by Daledoc1 »

KWierso wrote:CheckPlaces is still accessible elsewhere: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-U ... aces.shtml


Thanks for the tip.
I was hoping that might be the case and/or that the dev would reply to my email with such a source link.

It does still seem to work just fine, at least for now.

I'd be interested in learning what was so horrible that the addon dev didn't just stop working on the addons, but actively removed them from AMO and scrubbed them from his site.


Yes, it does sound as if it must have been horrible.

Thanks all!
Updated specs: Longtime TB user. Currently on Win10 desktop (about to die), Win7 desktop (temporarily resuscitated), backup Win7 laptop (decommissioning soon), and -- soon -- Win11 PRO x64 desktop.
incurablegeek
Posts: 21
Joined: June 11th, 2012, 8:20 am

Re: Favicons Gone - Good or Bad?

Post by incurablegeek »

Well, I must say a Big Thank You for making a big improvement in my FF life! I downloaded, installed CheckPlaces - AND found that it restored lots and lots of missing icons. Nothing is perfect, but CheckPlaces sure is worth a look. Daledoc1, please, please feel free to butt in again.

KWierso, The link to http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Internet-U ... aces.shtml was a hug contribution. Thanks. I shall sleep a little better tonight.

Just a thought: It's about time FF stop acting like a bad auto mechanic, ie fix one thing and break two more.
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