Safari suddenly reset to original--lost home, bookmarks, etc

A

Annie

Registered
I don't know how this happened--it could be that we were offered one of those automatic updates and accepted because my 4 year old was on the computer at the time--but now my Safari looks as it did when it was first installed: all our bookmarks are gone and the apple ones in the bookmarks menu, home is what it first came with, etc.

I want to restore it to a previous date, which is what my husband did on his Windows laptop when he had a similar problem with a program, but I can't figure out how to do that.

Thanks very much!

In desperate need,
Annie
 
No going back on a Mac like you can on Windows.
Are you sure you're logged in to the right account?
Are there any other users?
 
A
R
G
H

Ok, I have finished my agonized cries. Thanks very much for your reply, at least i iddn't spend hours trying different things.

What do you mean about the right account? We have only one isp (dsl) account. I assume the users thing is like when you open my husband's computer, you have to choose between users before you get to the desktop (and the desktops are different). That's ok: we still have the same desktop.

Oh, man. All those bookmarks--I homeschool and I spent hours getting them all together. Is there any way, for the future, to save them elsewhere?

Thanks very much!
Bowed over with sorrow,
Annie
 
By accounts, I meant user accounts. Do you have more than one user account, and maybe logged into the wrong one?

In your User folder, is there any other users in there other than your normal one?

Bookmarks is one of the files I have set to backup daily, automatically, using Chronosync.
 
I don't think the computer is set up for more than one user--if the desktop is the same, then I'd be in the right place: would that be correct? We have all the same personal folders showing on the desktop. (Sorry I'm so dense about how to talk about the computer!)
 
It may not be, but in your User Folder, is there more than one name or folder there?
 
This is strange--I thought it was only Safari, but Explorer is in the same state: we hardly ever use it (as it is supposed to be used for a course which they are ignoring) but it also has reverted back to its original state wrt homepage and bookmarks.

Also, Safari still has the historical stuff in it from yesterday, when it was still ok--I went to input google.com on the line which tells where you are, which I hardly ever do, and it showed things I had been searching for yesterday.

This seems very strange.

When I looked in the Users folder, I only saw 2 things: apple (with a little house above) and a Shared folder which had only a folder in it names faxes, which was empty. I logged out and when I reopened the computer, it didn't give me a choice--just Apple.

I do appreciate your helping me out with this :)
 
In your User folder, your User name isn't there?

Sounds like your 4 year old may have cause some problems.
 
What happened was that there was a problem with the screen which Apple was repairing under a program. We sent it in for repairs; they sent it back all set up with OSX, everything was new and all our previous data was lost. It was set up with Apple as the user, and I don't think there ever was another user--we didn't have any books or discs for OSX. We never had to choose a user when we were starting up, either, like we do on my husband's computer. We'd just push the button and eventually we'd be at the desktop.

So there may never have been another user.

And, (hitting myself on the forehead) I finally asked my sons what exactly happened: and this is it: last night, the little circle with a rainbow in it that turns round and round showed up, AFAIK while I was on a site that I go to (messageboard I have gotten hung up on before with my husband's computer)--well, apparently it just kept going all night long (I got interrupted and never got back to it) and this morning, what my 4yo was complaining about was just that. My other son went over and re-started the computer for him, and when it was re-started, the situation was as I described, but also, the background screen was reverted, as were the icons for folders and things. (The children are always changing the background, so I never pay attention to that).

So I guess that just being hung up all night or else whatever made it hang up was what did it.

If that makes you have more ideas, that would be great, but since that site has caused my husband's computer to hang up before, I think maybe it is a problem with the site... :( I'm sorry I didn't get all this info in the first place, and I really appreciate your helping me out like this :)
 
You don't have any OS X install discs?

What I would do is backup any of your data that you still have, then reformat the drive and reinstall the system.

Then setup your account and another account for your kids.
Don't let them log into your account or you'll have this problem again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top