My bookmarks are tribbles

LibraryLady

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LibraryLady
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Can anyone explain to me why my bookmarks in Chrome keep multiplying? They seem to be born pregnant. I delete swaths of them, and the next day they and their progeny are back! I looked at the help page but it was very confusing to someone who isn't as tech savvy as some. Shall I just delete them all and start fresh? Should I switch to Edge?
 
Try Firefox, from mozilla.org. Free and awesome, you will never get a bookmark unless you put it there. Very user-friendly interface with a ton of privacy features and personalizations
 
Thermal said:
Try Firefox, from mozilla.org. Free and awesome, you will never get a bookmark unless you put it there. Very user-friendly interface with a ton of privacy features and personalizations
Click to expand...

I'm using Firefox and have several hundred bookmarks, it seems. Once in a great while I'll check on a link out of curiosity to see if it's still active. I gave some thought once to getting (free) or creating an app to do that but never got around to it.
 
alfaniner said:
I'm using Firefox and have several hundred bookmarks, it seems. Once in a great while I'll check on a link out of curiosity to see if it's still active. I gave some thought once to getting (free) or creating an app to do that but never got around to it.
Click to expand...


I have Firefox.

I hacked the "userChrome.css" file to make all my bookmarks appear in a three-row toolbar directly above the tabs (note, I have my tabs directly above the webpages because I HATE having them at the top of the browser.

The only bookmarks I have are the ones that I put there, and I do that by dragging the URL onto the toolbar
 
There is a star on the right hand side of the URL. Do you click it? Because if you do that will create a bookmark.

Also make sure there is no food around your computer. That alone will make the tribbles breed.
 
This is a bit of speculation: It's possible Chrome saves the bookmarks (and maybe [parts of] your browsing history) in the cloud, ostensibly associated with your Google account, even if you do not log in to said account regularly.

One of my gripes is that Chrome is re-populating the downloads window/list when I launch it, even though I have deleted the list in the window, and via the settings, last time I used it before quitting. A bit of digging revealed it keeps the downloads history in the cloud, to allow an undo or some such nonsense (or so they say). And I cannot seem to find the magic button to turn that off (all your data belong to us!). I think something similar may be happening with your bookmarks.
 
rjh01 said:
There is a star on the right hand side of the URL. Do you click it? Because if you do that will create a bookmark.

Also make sure there is no food around your computer. That alone will make the tribbles breed.
Click to expand...

I only bookmark when I really want to save something, then find the bookmark multiplied. I'm very careful not to leave them food, but I suspect they are breaking into the pantry. I'm afraid to open it.

elgarak said:
This is a bit of speculation: It's possible Chrome saves the bookmarks (and maybe [parts of] your browsing history) in the cloud, ostensibly associated with your Google account, even if you do not log in to said account regularly.

One of my gripes is that Chrome is re-populating the downloads window/list when I launch it, even though I have deleted the list in the window, and via the settings, last time I used it before quitting. A bit of digging revealed it keeps the downloads history in the cloud, to allow an undo or some such nonsense (or so they say). And I cannot seem to find the magic button to turn that off (all your data belong to us!). I think something similar may be happening with your bookmarks.
Click to expand...

I have that too, but didn't connect the two!

Thermal said:
Try Firefox, from mozilla.org. Free and awesome, you will never get a bookmark unless you put it there. Very user-friendly interface with a ton of privacy features and personalizations
Click to expand...

I have Edge on my computer, so I might just switch over to that before downloading anything new.

Thanks for the help! A hive mind is a terrible thing to waste.
 
Thermal said:
Try Firefox, from mozilla.org. Free and awesome, you will never get a bookmark unless you put it there. Very user-friendly interface with a ton of privacy features and personalizations
Click to expand...

I use Chrome. The only bookmarks present are the ones I put there myself.

ETA: Probably the best strategy at this point is a little experimentation:

1. Make a note of one or two of the unwanted bookmarks you noticed today.

2. Make a note of the steps you took to delete them.

3. Tomorrow, note whether any new unwanted bookmarks have appeared.

4a. If not, that's your high score - 1 Day. Try to beat it : )

4b. If you do notice more unwanted bookmarks tomorrow, make a note of them.
- Are they the same as the ones you deleted yesterday?
- Are they bookmarks for sites you've visited recently, or might have visited recently?

Bonus experiment: There should be a direct causal relationship, between clicking the "star" icon at the rightmost end of the Chrome address bar, and the creation of a new bookmark. Test this by clicking on the star, and making a note of what happens. You should get a small prompt, to choose the name and location of the bookmark, and confirm or cancel it. The star should also change from a hollow shape to a solid shape in the address bar. Is this what actually happens?
 
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