Help - Firefox has disappeared!

[MacUserNI]

Hi everyone! Please would anyone have any advice on how to retrieve my Firefox Browser?

I'm on an old Powermac G4 System X 10.3.9 which has served me very, very well for years. Last night after browsing ebay, etc I closed down my browser and then later when I wanted to use the internet again my 'Firefox Browser' could not be found. I can connect to the net and use Safari, etc browsers but my Firefox was my normal browser and had all my important Favs and Bookmarks incorporated.

I did searches for 'Firefox' and my system cannot find the original software/program. It's disappeared completely and giving me serious bother. The alias icon for firefox still appears in my Dock but doesnt activate at all.

Has anyone any advice on 'hopefully' finding it and re-establishing it (hopefully with all my favs and bookmarks etc in tack!)? Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[Jaygray]

Did you check in the trash can?

I would use Safari to redownload it from Mozilla. Mozilla | Firefox web browser & Thunderbird email client

If your settings and bookmarks are still in place, I don't think reinstalling it would affect them.

[Kyrawan]

The same thing happened on my computer today. I was able to restore the application from my time machine backup. I would really like to know why it could have happened though. The whole application just vanished.

[toMACsh]

It had to be something you were doing, and you didn't notice the effect. Things don't just happen when the computer is not being used (by you), unless someone outside gains control of it, in which case it's being used by that person.

[Kyrawan]

I agree, toMACsh. This is why I'm worried. I want to make sure there isn't a bigger problem. Is there any way I can check to make sure the computer is alright besides a permissions check in the disk utility?

I would have had to physically drag the application to the trash can. There is no way I could have accidentally done that. Yesterday when this happened, I had been using Firefox in the morning and no other applications, finder windows, etc. were open. When I left the house, I closed Firefox and shut down the computer. When I came home and turned it on, the Firefox icon in the dock had a big grey question mark covering it. When I clicked on the icon, nothing happened. I dragged it off of the dock and it disappeared. Then I searched for the application and it was nowhere to be found, not even in the trash can. I restored the version of Firefox saved in Time Machine from earlier in the day.

[toMACsh]

I would have had to physically drag the application to the trash can.

... or accidently hit the Delete icon in the toolbar, or the key combo for move to Trash when the icon was highlighted and you didn't realize it.