Alternative to Thunderbird for email client

[#1]

@shutter 

I've read of your problem in your other thread whereby you're seeing, in your words, "bottom task bar ... was rammed full of little squares relating to Thunderbird" (Linux).  I don't use TB in Linux but I've seen similar in Win 7 and I suspect each of your 'little squares' represents an instance of the TB notification which you've mentioned which IMO is most likely caused by a task timing-out due to CPU-hogging by another application.

I suspect that TB may not be the cause of the problem but is in fact the 'victim', BICBW of course.

When I saw it happening in Windows, rather than try and close down each of the many dialogue boxes individually ISTR I was able to get rid of all of them by killing the TB process from Task Manager.

Doesn't Linux (I know nowt about it) have a similar feature which will show you how much CPU usage is attributed to individual processes as in Windows TM?

[#2]

---

@RobPN wrote:

Doesn't Linux (I know nowt about it) have a similar feature which will show you how much CPU usage is attributed to individual processes as in Windows TM?

---

It does, it's called top.

top | grep thunderbird

will show the usage stats for thunderbird (well it does on the iMac).

[#3 · Accepted solution]

@shutter  Just wondered if you still get the same problem starting TB in safe mode.

Have a read of this.

[#4]

@RobPN   Well, I am only a recent convert to Linux... as a serious (?) alternative to Windows.10. ... CTRL ALT DEL, on windows brings up the "task manager" where you can "kill" a process or a page.... 

Unfortunately.. ( as at this moment )  I do not know if Linux has the same thing... Well, it does, sort of, kind of, apologetically of... it `s an app called "Force Quit".... which then brings up another window, with quit or cancel... It doesn`t always work... particularly in this scenario, where the whole computer seems to freeze up..

As for looking at what is running and using the processor.... I am a complete dinosaur about that... I have "looked " at it on Windows, ...but , as with most things computer related... what is shown on those screens, does not necessarily register wtih me, as to which program they are referring to, and I am in a quandry as to "close" them or "kill" them, in case I did more damage than good.

Although you think TB is not the cause, and could be the victim, that is causing the problems... it is remarkably strange, that I started off this afternoons sesssion with TB running,... and I had problems again... So I shut it down, and since it has been closed, there has been no recurrences.  Just opened up again... and we shall see if things get worse later,... or not... ! !

Replacing the CR2032 battery does seem to have made the computer more "alive" and seems to be quicker to respond to mouse clicks, and pages loading up... although that may be just the imagination because of the inference of a new battery ! ! ..

[#5]

@Anonymous   Yup.... probably does... haven`t tried it... as I said to @RobPN  just now,  the info will be just that..."info" to me... I would not know how to act on it to solve the problem...

similar to me telling you that my car is only doing 30 mpg .. when it should be doing 60 mpg...but it does not explain why, or what action to take to improve the situation...    ( which is not true, but...you get my drift) ! ! !..

[#6]

---

@shutter wrote:

similar to me telling you that my car is only doing 30 mpg .. when it should be doing 60 mpg...but it does not explain why, or what action to take to improve the situation...    ( which is not true, but...you get my drift) ! ! !..

---

That'll be because you're driving too fast!   

[#7]

@7up   Having put a new battery in.... seems to have sorted the problems.... temporarily !... so I can`t give you a "fixed" for it, at the moment...

I say this, because,... this mornings first session seemed to be going very well... and I was not online very long... this afternoon, I restarted and for a couple of hours I refused to start thunderbird, to see what effect the new battery had... it appeared to run better... pages were quick to load. and the mouse reaction was quicker and more positive .. so I suppose that was a "partial fix"..

however... within a few minutes of starting thunderbird to read emails...  the freeze up started again... after about 5 minutes of jerky response on the mouse, and pages refusing to do anything.. couldn`t even close them down or get rid with "force quit" as the mouse was ineffective.  I had to do a hard shut down, ... and restarted.. again without starting thunderbird...

it`s been fine all afternoon, and evening...  just been on to check my emails... and decided to "restart" with addons disabled...  and a message box appeared saying it was running in safe mode,... and I could permanently disable addons.. which I have now done.. and will continue running thunderbird like that for the rest of the evening.  and see what happens... also in the morning, i shall start with opening thunderbird as normal, ( without the addons enabled ) and see what difference that makes..

Thanks to everyone for their help and suggestions..

[#8]

I don't see how replacing your battery can do this I'm sure what you're experiencing is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Yes, replacing it may well assist in time related operations but that would only be true if you were suffering from clock drift, which is the first sign of a duff battery.

Was the laptop showing the correct time prior to the batter change?

[#9]

@Anonymous 

Said...... I don't see how replacing your battery can do this

Me too.... ! !    but it saved me from getting really frazzled about it all... !  ( it did eliminate that possibility though) and ... as said... the machine is 7 or more years old... so a new battery will only be good for it ...

(no the time was not flaky! ! ) .

At present.. I think all is well with the world, and it has been down to Thunderbird doing something it shouldn`t...

So... a "this fixed it"  to @idonno  

and a "partial fix"  to @7up  for the battery. ! ! 

And a big "THANK-YOU"   to all who participated... 

[#10]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I don't see how replacing your battery can do this I'm sure what you're experiencing is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Yes, replacing it may well assist in time related operations but that would only be true if you were suffering from clock drift, which is the first sign of a duff battery.

---

In theory you are correct however I've noticed many systems with this behaviour over the years and each time, replacing the clock battery clears it up and restores normality. I didn't believe it myself when it was first suggested to me by my mate but he was a computer science student and was adamant it would make a difference. Sure enough, it did. What many forget is that although the clock is just that, the motherboard also uses timing for other functions... and where is it likely to take it's timing reference from? - and if that is knackered...

I think shutter has found himself on the end of two different faults that cropped up at the same time (does happen - same with cars too). A 7 year old machine that had never had it's battery changed was going to be running on borrowed time anyway clock battery wise so it needed changing and shutter himself has admitted it made a difference to stability.

As for Thunderbird, it would seem that had it's own issue and was hogging resources too only worsening the problem.

[#11]

First off @7up don’t take this the wrong way, but assuming your friend graduated ask them now what the purpose of the Real Time Clock (RTC) on a Motherboard is for, and they will tell you its for telling the time nothing more nothing less and the battery is there to persist this time while the machine is off. Yes, it's used by some functions within the software which is why you'll get complaints about Digital Certificates being wrong when your clock's adrift.

The timings you speak of on the Motherboard come from oscillators and have no connection to the RTC whatsoever. But if you doubt me remove the battery and your PC and it will still work as intended with the side effect of the clock being wrong.

However, replacing the battery on such an old PC certainly won't do it any harm, but the only time it will do good is when the battery is on it's last legs and the clock is drifting as a result.

[#12]

The re-install of Firefox and Thunderbird seems to have done the trick

see my reply number 24 in the thread on General Chat

https://community.plus.net/t5/General-Chat/Alternative-to-Thunderbird-for-email-client/m-p/1659443#M...

Thanks to everyone for all their input and help.

Much appreciated.

[#13]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

First off @7up don’t take this the wrong way, but assuming your friend graduated ask them now what the purpose of the Real Time Clock (RTC) on a Motherboard is for, and they will tell you its for telling the time nothing more nothing less and the battery is there to persist this time while the machine is off. Yes, it's used by some functions within the software which is why you'll get complaints about Digital Certificates being wrong when your clock's adrift.

The timings you speak of on the Motherboard come from oscillators and have no connection to the RTC whatsoever. But if you doubt me remove the battery and your PC and it will still work as intended with the side effect of the clock being wrong.

However, replacing the battery on such an old PC certainly won't do it any harm, but the only time it will do good is when the battery is on it's last legs and the clock is drifting as a result.

---

I stand by my previous point in that what you say is in theory correct. The reality however is different.

I've seen multiple machines return to normality by having their clock batteries replaced. If you haven.t then it doesn't mean you have the right to start dishing orders based on your inexperience of the issue.

Windows itself relies in the RTC - as you admit. What happens when the core of the OS is dependent on those clock ticks and it then realises that those clock ticks are actually not happening when expected? - Should it execute the next set of instructions, should it wait? - who knows. Unless you have access to microsofts windows source code you cannot justifiably dismiss this.

Yes I have experienced out of date certificates but only if the clock is majorly incorrect - eg hours, days, weeks or even years. Not a few seconds or milliseconds.

Oh and yes, I have removed the battery from the clock with the system running in the past - nothing changed. The RTC on the boards i've used seemed to be powered by the board itself (the battery is typically used to keep the clock ticking when the machine is off). Yes you might point out that when powered by the MOBO the battery shouldn't affect anything.. and i'd agree with that.. but having seem multiple machines fixed by replacing it I stand by my point that rightly or wrongly, by anyones theory, it does make a difference - shutter has confirmed that too.