Thunderbird locks up when I look at any message with remote content.
I have been running Thunderbird for over 18 months on this computer with no issues. About two days ago, It began locking up and since then I have been trying numerous things to try and resolved the issue. SYSTEM: Asus Republic of Gamers Laptop running Windows 8.1
Nvidia GeForce 765M 8GB memory Avast AntiVirus
It appears that whenever I select ANY message with remote content, Thunderbird freezes. It occasionally will become available again after a wait of at least two minutes, but will freeze again as soon as I click any message. It also appears to be loading remote content despite my instructions not to.
Among dozens of other things, I have tried running in Windows Safe Mode and Thunderbird Safe Mode. Nothing changes. Thunderbird continues to hang.
Thanks in advance for any insight you can give.
Ellen
All Replies (5)
I forgot to mention that I disabled my antivirus, Windows Defender and Windows Firewall. The later two have been disabled since I purchased my system.
thanks.
My guess is it will be some part of avast, like an anti phishing control or some sort of anti scam tool. It might even be an add-on in your browser.
Sadly, the problem wasn't Avast, it was a specific piece of SPAM that poisons whatever folder it is in. As I mentioned, I completely disabled Avast. I also tried running in safe mode AND disconnected from the internet to avoid any possible issues.
It appears that someone is exploiting a vulnerability of some sort. In the end, I was able to identify that it was one of three messages.
First, I managed to get to another folder other than the inbox. ALL the other folders worked fine, so I emptied all my trash. I then decided that I would try deleting some of the mail from the inbox - which I could only do one at a time with several minutes in between. I managed 3 of them and everything started working fine!
I then COULD NOT ACCESS THE TRASH FOLDER! The only reasonable conclusion is that one of the three spam e-mails had some code in it that was wrecking havoc with whatever folder it was in. Fortunately you can empty trash without having to open the folder. As soon as I did, Thunderbird was completely back to normal.
Sadly, I can't forward a copy of those e-mails to anyone! However, it is something to be on the lookout for.
Gewysig op
A copy of such an email would be invaluable. All we have now is another user experience that can not be replicated.
I agree, but isolating it and sending it would have been impossible given the circumstances. if it occurs again, I will post again. Perhaps you can suggest a way to send it, and who to send it to. I was certainly out of ideas, and I needed to get back to work.
BTW,if someone embeds an image that displays in an e-mail I am unable to forward the mail without stripping it out. Thunderbird just sits there and grinds away until I cancel the send or it times out.
I doubt they are related, but it is the only other "problem" behavior that I have.
Thanks so much for your time!