Press F10 to mane the menu bar visible. Then select view and from the toolbars entry make sure all four have a tick

Problem solved, Matt. Thank you a million. I'm embarrassed at how much time I spent trying to figure out what to do.

This was the easier of two problems 'cause I was going to an old desktop to write and send mail via Thunderbird.

May I send a query about my big problem, which I've had for about a year?

Jim

go for it. Nothing says I have an answer.

Let me try to better describe my "big problem".

It takes me a long time to compose even a very short note as Thunderbird locks up every few words and stays locked up for a period of time. Sometimes the wait is very long. I've written a 50 word note and had it lock up 9 times.

By "locking up" I mean Thuderbird halts my typing for a period of time. It ALWAYS lets me continue after the delay. This continues until I finish the letter. I can spend an hour on that 100 word letter. No kidding.

Now, when the delay begins, I see a feature pop up on the page that denotes some kind of pause. It is a circular symbol, colorred blue on the outside. The blue part appears to be spinning clockwise and remains that way until th program lets me resumes typing. It appears every time there's a stoppage.

I've been putting up with this a long time on my nearly two year old desktop w/Windows 10. Once, I removed Thunderbird and re-installed it. The problem remained.

Wish I could better describe the small whirling blue symbol.

Jim

PS Thunderbird worked fine on this PC for the first 13-14 months - no locking up when I typed at all.

What anti virus is it?

I was having similar issue when I first upgraded to Windows 10. I wrote a bog post about the journey https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2016/08/windows-10-and-thunderbird-firefox.html

It is still not 100% I still get what I call micro hangs for a few seconds and it will drop letters typed. but I am seeing is across applications. It is just I use Firefox and Thunderbird most. So I tend to blame them.

Thanks again, Matt. I'm gonna study your detailed answer in a few minutes and will reply, say no later than 10 EST. I have company here.

Though I've just read a few lines from your reply, let me throw something out. A kid I know works at Microsoft in Redmond so I asked him about the problem, back at Thanksgiving. He thought I needed to empty the cache. I thought he meant a cache for Thunderbird but I can't locate a cache in Thunderbird. I can delete history an hour, two hours, a day or completely, but am afraid of what this may do. It would kill me to lose my stored email. I still have all my email back to 1996 from Outlook Express and Thunderbird.

Wil look at your answer in just a minute as friend is trying to say goodbye. :O)

Jim

On the toolbar > Options >advanced > Network and disk space and click the clear cache button.>

I just cleared mine. I doubt it will do much as I use mostly pop mail. But anything is worth a try.

I just cleared the Thunderbird cache. I shall now try typing a letter and see if I still get a freeze or micro hang.

BTW, I occasionally see this freeze in Firefox, but not often and it isn't a problem.

I'll get back with you in a few minutes, Matt.

Thank you.

Jim

Hi again, Matt,

I typed a short letter, about a hundred words, with no problem until it froze up for a half minute near the end. When I mailed the note to myself, Thunderbird froze again (I forgot to tell you that it almost always freezes when I hit the send button. The letter does eventually go out, but a pop up window that displays the message "Sent Successfully", also displays "(not responding)" and stays up, often for a long time.

Clearing the cache doesn't seen to have had any effect on the problem, just as you predicted.

Jim

I can't remember when the Thunderbird freeze up problem began but it was a long, long time ago. I think it began before I installed Windows 10.

I installed Windows 10 on this one year old desktop on July 31, the last day MS offered it to some Window users as a free upgrade. It loaded seamlessly.

In all the applications I use, the freezing occurs only in Thunderbird and in the Firefox browser.

What do you think of me switching to Outlook as my principal email program. I use Yahoo for business and commerce and Gmail as my "throwaway address", but these venues are hard on my eyes. I need a program that doesn't strain my eyes, as I have a major vision problem.

Thank you, again, Matt, for your help.

Jim

Freeze on send does really sound like anti virus scanning. McAfee was really horrible for it, but when you click send a temp file is created in the temp folder to actually hold the email being send. Are you using anti virus? What?

I use the free version of Avast! and have used it since I began using Thunderbird. To refresh, I used Thunderbird and Avast on this then-new PC for 6 -8 months with no problem. I think the problem started well before the Windows 10 upgrade, but I cannot pinpoint when. Boo!

I might guess when Avast updated to version 10.3.2223

See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#AVAST

Matt,

I just went into Avast and turned off the Mail Shield to see what might happen. I'll give you a report as soon as I write and mail another note to myself.

Thanks.

Jim

BTW, what part of the country and time zone are you in? I'm in Kentucky.

What do you think of me switching to Outlook as my main email program?

After turning off the Mail Shield, I penned a short note to myself. No freeze ups. When it appeared in my inbox seconds later, I noticed it HAD been scanned by Avast as a notification from Avast appears at the bottom of the note. It read:

{the Avast logo} This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com

I have to get to bed, Matt. Thank you again for all the time you've given to my problem. You've been great. I'll let you know if the freeze up problem continues. Jim (username: martininky)

martininky said

BTW, what part of the country and time zone are you in? I'm in Kentucky.

I am in Australia. UTC+ 9:30 to be exact. I am a Thunderbird fan boy, so of course I would be disappointed to loose someone to outlook. But really apart from being a little slow at time, Thunderbird is a superior product. If not as flashy.

I would suggest you also make a foray into avast and turn off that stupid notification. While you are unlikely to get signed mail, and even less likely to send it. Those message anti virus programs stick in the message actually see signed mail flagged as tampered with in transit. Simply because they have been tampered with..

Hey Matt,

Thanks for getting back with me again.

Before penning a letter tonight, I fully disabled my Avast antivirus program. The letter I then composed was 74 words long but took an hour and four minutes to complete and mail. I had 13 freeze ups, a couple that were rather long. This is what I go through every time I write an email from this account - one of two on this desktop.

Thanks to you, I was able to mail the letter. It's great to have those toolbars back.

I have a separate account on this PC for the use of guests and Thunderbird is the email program. Interestingly, I have none of the freeze up problems when I compose and send email from there. I don't think I've ever had a problem using that Thunderbird install. Odd huh?

Both accounts currently use Thunderbird version 45.6.0.

Jim