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Have unistalled TBird and reinstalled 3 times. Still getting error messages

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I started getting error messages from Thunderbird eg "Add security exception". The email address of the account has the port number added to it. I was unable to use TBird. After several weeks I uninstalled TBird. I cleared the profiles and tried reinstalling. I get the same or similar messages. I have just retried but get "Thunderbird failed to find settings for your email account" when trying manual setup and still get Add security exception as well.

I started getting error messages from Thunderbird eg "Add security exception". The email address of the account has the port number added to it. I was unable to use TBird. After several weeks I uninstalled TBird. I cleared the profiles and tried reinstalling. I get the same or similar messages. I have just retried but get "Thunderbird failed to find settings for your email account" when trying manual setup and still get Add security exception as well.

All Replies (6)

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Have unistalled TBird and reinstalled 3 times.

You've been wasting your time. The problem is with your Thunderbird profile, or more likely, with your security software. Profile files are stored separately from the Thunderbird program files. The program files are static and do not change (except when you upgrade the Thunderbird application version). Because we store profile and program files separately, you can uninstall Thunderbird without losing your messages and settings, and if something goes wrong with a Thunderbird update your information will still be available. It also means that you don't have to reinstall Thunderbird in order to delete your information or troubleshoot a problem.

I started getting error messages from Thunderbird eg "Add security exception".

What is the exact error message? Please post a screenshot. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

What is your anti-virus/security software?

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Thank you for your reply. I am aware that I have wasted considerable time with this.

I have deleted and/or renamed all the Thunderbird profiles I found to try and force it to create new ones.

I am using Windows Defender as my security software together with Malwarebytes.

I have attached a screenshot.

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Your picture shows some IMAP server that uses port 143. The default security for that is STARTTLS, but since you obscured the server name, we can't tell if that is correct, and we don't know what you have for the account in Account Settings/Server Settings, i.e. server name, server type, port, security, authentication.

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OK. Here is another screenshot of the server settings.

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It looks to me your site is hosted by iPage, and they recommend these settings:

incoming IMAP server: imap.tony-n.com on port 993, SSL/TLS security, authentication = normal password, User Name = full email address; outgoing SMTP server: smtp.tony-n.com on port 465, SSL/TLS security, authentication = normal password, User Name = full email address.

For iPage, port 143 for the incoming would only apply for connection security = None, instead of STARTTLS as in your picture.

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Thank you. I will try that soon.

Tony