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Downloading some messages is extremly slow and TB often stops responding

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  • 2 have this problem
  • 17 views
  • Last reply by Sander G.

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This has been happening for quite sometime with TB ending up 'not responding' while trying to download one of the emails. When first starting up TB it attempts to download say 20 emails and after taking a few minutes to get to the 3rd email it stops responding and then stops downloading completely. Another attempt to download will obtain a further batch of emails but the same thing happens. During the downloads some emails download quite quickly but as usual the programme hangs 'not responding'. When this happens the whole computer seems to freeze as well. It is not the internet connection as Firefox behaves quite normally and a speed check around this time gives a download speed of 4 - 4.5Mbps.

This has been happening for quite sometime with TB ending up 'not responding' while trying to download one of the emails. When first starting up TB it attempts to download say 20 emails and after taking a few minutes to get to the 3rd email it stops responding and then stops downloading completely. Another attempt to download will obtain a further batch of emails but the same thing happens. During the downloads some emails download quite quickly but as usual the programme hangs 'not responding'. When this happens the whole computer seems to freeze as well. It is not the internet connection as Firefox behaves quite normally and a speed check around this time gives a download speed of 4 - 4.5Mbps.

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To diagnose problems with Thunderbird, try one of the following:

  • Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.
  • Restart the operating system in safe mode with Networking. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX
If safe mode for the operating system fixes the issue, there's other software in your computer that's causing problems. Possibilities include but not limited to: AV scanning, virus/malware, background downloads such as program updates.