What is your anti-virus software?

McAfee.

Long running scripts can cause that kind of problem. Are you doing anything in this process that you think my trigger a long running script?

McAfee is known to be problematic with Thunderbird. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#McAfee

to chaosrider: Sometimes a delay is identified as a long-running script that seems to be generated by some on-line modification generated from another source. I do not know how to identify whether I am causing the scripts in order to tell you. Does that separate identification of the script as a cause answer something about the not responding message?

christ1: I think you probably have identified the problem. I will ask my computer helper, aka my daughter, to apply the corrections given in the article to which you directed me (us) next week when she is here and let you know.

If a long running script is causing the problem, you can turn off the option to run scripts.

But I'd test your other answer before going down that path!

Good luck

to chaosrider - Thank you for answering. I will try that sequence.

Chaosrider said

If a long running script is causing the problem, you can turn off the option to run scripts. But I'd test your other answer before going down that path! Good luck

Thunderbird does not run scripts in email. It does however use JavaScript and XUL for the entire user interface The only scripts that can really be disabled are those in Feeds, or if a script is a part of an add-on. The add-on can be disabled.

My experience is that most script time out error are a direct result of misbehaving anti virus product wither scanning and locking Thunderbird temp file, or simply scanning the files in the user profile. Not a very good idea when they (anti virus) consume around 10 minutes to scan a 1Gb file and many profiles these days have multiple multi gigabyte files in them that are updated more frequently than 10 minutes. It results in a never ending contention. Freezes and hangs as well as script timeouts and windows reporting the program has stopped responding are all common symptoms of this underlying problem.

Please forgive my ignorance.

So, you are suggesting...what, exactly, in terms of security software? I recognize the problems that you refer to, but what's the alternative?

Thx,

TCS

Chaosrider said

Please forgive my ignorance. So, you are suggesting...what, exactly, in terms of security software? I recognize the problems that you refer to, but what's the alternative? Thx, TCS

As a gereral rule, creating an exception for the Thunderbird profile, or parts of it in the anti virus product is the simple solution. There is nothing in the mail or IMAP mail folders that is executable or executed by Thunderbird so on access scanning for those folders should be disallowed. An exception should also be created for the global-messages-db.sqlite file. It is a database file and it has always been good practice to exclude database files from anti virus activity, going back to the 1980s.

I do not have an answer that can fix the issues for people because the solution required is dependent on their choice of anti virus product.

Unfortunately, the folks most likely to have an issue are also the ones least likely to be able to fix it. Relying wholely on the security software to fill in the blanks in their knowledge about security. Basically they will end up on android device or using a browser as their anti virus products get more and more aggressive at doing something that is doomed to failure. The scanning for known threats. It is years since Symantec acknowledged scanning for known threats was is was a failure. http://www.zdnet.com/article/symantec-calls-antivirus-doomed-as-security-giants-fight-for-survival/

I did blog about the topic is anti virus in general back in January https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/anti-virus-again.html

Good info, thanks, I'll check it out!

Saying that scanning for known threats is a failure is a bit of an exaggeration. It's more accurate to say that there are many risks that it doesn't protect against.

I have a multi-faceted security set-up, as I'm sure you do. Part of my architecture is to do as few things "live" as possible. Hence my preference for POP3 vs IMAP.

I also do back-ups frequently, and keep several copies.

Again, thx!

TCS