After downloading 24.5.0 I get frequent "stalling" and hanging of Thunderbird, on two separate computers with McAfee
While reading mail that has already downloaded, Thunderbird seems to stall when selecting a new message, and I get a message from Windows at the top of the screen telling me that Thunderbird is not responding. If I wait a couple minutes this clears up and I can click on the next message. I can work normally for a while, then it will hang a few times, then it clears up for a while. Windows 7, 64-bit. Happens on two different computers with different apps running, different anti-virus packages, probably not all the settings are identical.
Gewysig op deur Wayne Mery
All Replies (6)
If you are using McAFee please read info here:
If IMAP account do you synchronize your folders?
Do you download all emails in a folder or only more recent?
You could try to download only xx emails or days of emails. see info here:
Do you compact folders on a regular basis to remove all traces of deleted emails? Otherwise your folder may be larger than you think.
info on compacting:
1. I have two computers. One runs McAfee, the other Norton. Same symptoms on both, didn't have symptoms with previous version of Thunderbird on either. 2. Not IMAP 3. Have been downloading emails to various folders for many years, didn't have this problem with previous version of Thunderbird. 4. Yes, I compact folders daily.
1. The one running McAFee is highly likely to be scanning all emails and is known to cause issues. There has been plenty of reports on this. For the computer with this anti-virus, please change the settings as per the info at the link supplied. Then see if that computer improves on performance.
2. Not IMAP - so you are using a Pop mail account.
On the other machine try this to see if this improves on performance. Reduce folder size by Archiving mail.
1. Archive all mail older than one month. Archive by month and retain folder structure.
See Archive Options:
2. Empty both Deleted and Junk folders and then right click and compact those folders.
re Happens on two different computers with different apps running, different anti-virus packages, probably not all the settings are identical.
Do both computers have the same POP mail account connecting to the same server? IF yes, I presume you leave messages on the server so that each computer can access and download the same emails to the other computer.
Please confirm whether both computers have identical mail accounts accessing the same server to download the same emails.
First, thanks for offering to help.
Anti-Virus Related Issues
1. McAfee AntiVirus Plus doesn't create an extension called McAfee Anti-Spam Thunderbird Extension in Tools | Addons | Extensions as noted in the web article. Nothing there. It does create two other plugins in Tools | Addons | Plugins. One is called McAfee Security Center and the other is called McAfee Virtual Technician. Disabling either had no impact upon mail performance. Yes, I closed the application and restarted it after turning the plugins off to be sure that they weren't still running.
2. Disabling attachment scanning didn't seem to have any impact, but I may have to wait until I get some significant attachments to tell for sure on that.
Routine Sysadmin Chores:
1. Yes, using POP. One computer does not remove mail from the server, the other does, daily. There is no significant build up of old mail on the server. Also, nothing changed in this regard from before installing 24.5.0.
2. I do archive mail, but mostly I clean out the folders. There is not a big accumulation of email in folders, particularly on the machine running McAfee. Regardless, this hasn't changed since I installed 24.5.0.
3. I empty junk and spam folders several times a day on whichever computer is being used, and compact regularly. There is no build up in those folders.
On the bright side, both systems seem to be doing better with mail this morning, before doing anything at all to try and fix the problem. I am going to let this sit for a few days and see how it performs.
The point really is to disable scanning of the Thunderbird profile folder in McAfee.