Unable to download email (Bullguard spamfilter issue)

[#1]

I use thunderbird as my email client.  As of 2nd of this month no email has been downloaded.  There is mail on the plusnet servers - I can see it via webmail.  Up to 2/6 it was working fine and no settings have been changed.

I can still send outgoing mail but it is slow and sometimes fails.  So far the retry has always succeeded.

Any ideas/suggestions?

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Did Thunderbird update to version 45.1.1 around the time mail collection began to fail? But that update works OK for me. Since the version number has changed is your antivirus/firewall perhaps blocking access to the server?

Is it the default email account that isn't working? This is accessed using your Member Centre password - has that been changed. Though you haven't changed any settings have you verified they are correct?

You could try deleting the password saved in Thunderbird via Tools->Options->Security Passwords tab and Saved Passwords. Select the entry for the account and click Remove to delete it. Restart Thunderbird and you will be prompted to enter that password again.

[#3]

David,

Thanks for your suggestions.  I admit I had forgotten there had been a recent Thunderbird upgrade but I had checked my firewall was still permitting access - I use Bullguard and generally if the executable changes it asks what it should do, but some apps (like T'bird) are recognised and permitted automatically.  However, for safety I turned off the firewall and a/v.  No change.  Then I noticed that the spamfilter was also on, so I turned that off.  Bingo.  It turns out that the upgrade to 45.1.1 had disabled the security app's spamfilter plugin and for some reason this combination had silently prevented any further downloads.  I'll leave the external spamfilter off for now and raise a concern on the Bullguard forums.  Hopefully if anyone else hits the problem they will find this thread.