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E-mail problem

penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

E-mail problem

My pc uses XP Pro, and Mozilla Thunderbird for e-mails with Mailwasher to see what e-mails are waiting for me. A few months back I asked the Forum for help where if I had Thunderbird opened but minimised, my pc worked VERY slowly on other things until I closed Thunderbird. I was given a suggestion to go to Thunderbird, look at Help and disable Add-ons (or something like that). Yesterday, I found the problem had returned, so I tried that again, and when I did, it came up with a message "Did I want to make that permanent". As I didn't seem to have had a problem the previous time, I answered Yes.
Now today, I have found that Mailwasher said I had e-mails, but I couldn't get Thunderbird to fetch them (Thunderbird said it couldn't access  "live.mozillamessaging.com"), and I then found I couldn't access the web either. It has taken about two hours, where I tried rebooting my pc, and my Netgear router. I ended up disconnecting my router and connecting the cable from the phone line into an alternative router I have (I didn'y connect it to my pc). I waited until the spare router indicated that I had a broadband connection, then disconnected the phone cable from it and reconnected to my Netgear router.
Now, according to my pc, I have access to the web, but I still have the Thunderbird problem. Does anyone know how to either undo the permanent disable of Thunderbird Add-ons, or get Thunderbird to access "live.mozillamessaging.com", please?
Thanks
8 REPLIES 8
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: E-mail problem

I wonder if you've accidentally told your firewall not to allow Thunderbird to access the Internet? What firewall and antivirus software do you run?
Not sure whether this will help but you could try a system restore to a date before you made that Add-on change.
David
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Thankyou Spraxt, System Restore did the trick, but I am now back to having the problem where if I have Thunderbird open but minimised, other things run very slowly, so I am still looking for a solution to that. I have just had an e-mail with a link to a web-site from where I needed to print off a form - it took ages until I closed Thunderbird while the web-site was still open and trying to print. At that point the printer burst into life
Any suggestions anyone?
ReedRichards
Seasoned Pro
Posts: 4,927
Thanks: 145
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎14-07-2009

Re: E-mail problem

I know the general opinion is:
Microsoft = Bad
Mozilla = Good
but I have never been that impressed with Thunderbird; particularly after struggling to transfer emails out of it to another program.  Perhaps the solution is to not use Thunderbird - except that you may find yourself struggling to transfer emails out of it to another program.
I know that is not very constructive advice but sometimes you have to think the unthinkable. 
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Do things run slowly if you switch Thunderbird to Safe Mode which should temporarily disable add-ons?
Follow what I assume you did before, select Restart with Add-ons Disabled on the Help menu, and select Restart on the Confirmation window.
However when Thunderbird restarts leave both checkboxes unticked and click Continue in Safe Mode.
Exiting Thunderbird and starting it again should return it to normal mode.
David
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Hello spraxyt. Did as you suggested, then having restarted Thunderbird in Safe Mode, I minimised it. I opened Internet Explorer which starts at Google, and tried to access the Favourites List. The process ran very slowly, so I closed Thunderbird. Now Google worked at normal speed, so it suggests that it doesn't matter that Thunderbird is in Safe Mode, it still slows things down.
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Performance problems with Mailwasher and Thunderbird are mentioned in the Memory section of the linked Mozillazine knowledge base article.
Some thoughts from that article:
Do you have Thunderbird set not to check for new mail itself? Have you tried compacting folders.
Do you have a large number of messages in your Inbox (requiring a lot of memory to hold the index)?
There is a suggestion to change configuration setting config.trim_on_minimize to true so Thunderbird frees most of its memory when minimised.
David
penneck
Aspiring Pro
Posts: 1,089
Thanks: 79
Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Thanks spraxyt. I have tried deleting a lot of my e-mails, emptied the Trash, then compacted the folders. That seems to have done the trick
Thanks for your help
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: E-mail problem

Glad to hear that. Hope the improved performance continues. Smiley
David