do you have an anti virus scanning mail? Those sound like classic symptoms of one collapsing under use.

Try turning off mail scanning.

If that does not help. Please add the troubleshooting information to your post To find the Troubleshooting information:

• Open Help (or click on three-line-icon and select Help)
• Choose Troubleshooting Information
• Use the button Copy to clipboard to select all. Do not check box "Include account names"!
• Paste this in your post.

Please also add the result of these troubleshooting steps to your post

• Does Thunderbird work in TB Safe mode (see Thunderbird Safe Mode)?

will put troubleshooting info into multi posts as it is greater than 10,000 characters.

tried opening in safe mode - no good.

will turn norton anti-spam off and see what happens.

cheers john

TI Part 1: Application Basics Name Thunderbird Version 45.7.0 User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.7.0 Profile Folder Show Folder (Local drive) Application Build ID 20170124052806 Enabled Plugins about:plugins

Build Configuration about:buildconfig

Memory Use about:memory

Mail and News Accounts ID Incoming server Outgoing servers Name Connection security Authentication method Name Connection security Authentication method Default? account1 (pop3) pop3.paradise.net.nz:110 plain passwordCleartext smtp.paradise.net.nz:25 plain passwordCleartext true account2 (none) Local Folders plain passwordCleartext Crash Reports Report ID Submitted bp-03859616-feef-4eb1-ae43-bd3d32160905 5/09/2016 Extensions Name Version Enabled ID Lightning 4.7.7 true {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103} Lightning Calendar Tabs 1.5 true lightningcalendartabs@jlx.84 LookOut 1.2.13 true lookout@aron.rubin QuickFolders 4.6 true quickfolders@curious.be Important Modified Preferences Name Value accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar 0 browser.cache.disk.capacity 358400 browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported 1 browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value 358400 browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run false browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max false dom.apps.reset-permissions true extensions.lastAppVersion 45.7.0 font.internaluseonly.changed false font.name.monospace.el Consolas font.name.monospace.tr Consolas font.name.monospace.x-baltic Consolas font.name.monospace.x-central-euro Consolas font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic Consolas font.name.monospace.x-unicode Consolas font.name.monospace.x-western Consolas font.name.sans-serif.el Calibri font.name.sans-serif.tr Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-baltic Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-central-euro Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode Calibri font.name.sans-serif.x-western Calibri font.name.serif.el Cambria font.name.serif.tr Cambria font.name.serif.x-baltic Cambria font.name.serif.x-central-euro Cambria font.name.serif.x-cyrillic Cambria font.name.serif.x-unicode Cambria font.name.serif.x-western Cambria font.size.fixed.el 14 font.size.fixed.tr 14 font.size.fixed.x-baltic 14 font.size.fixed.x-central-euro 14 font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic 14 font.size.fixed.x-unicode 14 font.size.fixed.x-western 14 font.size.variable.el 17 font.size.variable.tr 17 font.size.variable.x-baltic 17 font.size.variable.x-central-euro 17 font.size.variable.x-cyrillic 17 font.size.variable.x-unicode 17 font.size.variable.x-western 17 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion 45.4.0 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID 0x0a16 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion 20.19.15.4444 gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle true gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11 false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp false gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11 true gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext 2 gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx 0 mail.openMessageBehavior.version 1 mail.winsearch.firstRunDone true mailnews.database.global.datastore.id b7df9f79-64a2-4584-b644-b360151c800 mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false… mailnews.database.global.views.global.columns {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false… network.cookie.prefsMigrated true network.predictor.cleaned-up true places.database.lastMaintenance 1485494313 places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages 104858 plugin.importedState true print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_scaling 1.00 print.printer_Brother_MFC-J470DW_Printer.print_shrink_to_fit false print.printer_The_Monk.print_bgcolor false print.printer_The_Monk.print_bgimages false print.printer_The_Monk.print_colorspace print.printer_The_Monk.print_command print.printer_The_Monk.print_downloadfonts false print.printer_The_Monk.print_duplex -437918235 print.printer_The_Monk.print_edge_bottom 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_edge_left 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_edge_right 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_edge_top 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_evenpages true print.printer_The_Monk.print_footercenter print.printer_The_Monk.print_footerleft &PT print.printer_The_Monk.print_footerright &D print.printer_The_Monk.print_headercenter print.printer_The_Monk.print_headerleft &T print.printer_The_Monk.print_headerright &U print.printer_The_Monk.print_in_color true print.printer_The_Monk.print_margin_bottom 0.5 print.printer_The_Monk.print_margin_left 0.5 print.printer_The_Monk.print_margin_right 0.5 print.printer_The_Monk.print_margin_top 0.5 print.printer_The_Monk.print_oddpages true print.printer_The_Monk.print_orientation 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_page_delay 50 print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_data 9 print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_height 11.00 print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_name print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_size_type 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_size_unit 1 print.printer_The_Monk.print_paper_width 8.50 print.printer_The_Monk.print_plex_name print.printer_The_Monk.print_resolution -437918235 print.printer_The_Monk.print_resolution_name print.printer_The_Monk.print_reversed false print.printer_The_Monk.print_scaling 1.00 print.printer_The_Monk.print_shrink_to_fit true print.printer_The_Monk.print_to_file false print.printer_The_Monk.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_unwriteable_margin_left 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_unwriteable_margin_right 0 print.printer_The_Monk.print_unwriteable_margin_top 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_bgcolor false print.printer_TheMonk.print_bgimages false print.printer_TheMonk.print_colorspace print.printer_TheMonk.print_command print.printer_TheMonk.print_downloadfonts false print.printer_TheMonk.print_duplex 1515870810 print.printer_TheMonk.print_edge_bottom 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_edge_left 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_edge_right 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_edge_top 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_evenpages true print.printer_TheMonk.print_footercenter print.printer_TheMonk.print_footerleft &PT print.printer_TheMonk.print_footerright &D print.printer_TheMonk.print_headercenter print.printer_TheMonk.print_headerleft &T print.printer_TheMonk.print_headerright &U print.printer_TheMonk.print_in_color true print.printer_TheMonk.print_margin_bottom 0.5 print.printer_TheMonk.print_margin_left 0.5 print.printer_TheMonk.print_margin_right 0.5 print.printer_TheMonk.print_margin_top 0.5 print.printer_TheMonk.print_oddpages true print.printer_TheMonk.print_orientation 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_page_delay 50 print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_data 9 print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_height 11.00 print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_name print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_size_type 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_size_unit 1 print.printer_TheMonk.print_paper_width 8.50 print.printer_TheMonk.print_plex_name print.printer_TheMonk.print_resolution 1515870810 print.printer_TheMonk.print_resolution_name print.printer_TheMonk.print_reversed false print.printer_TheMonk.print_scaling 1.00 print.printer_TheMonk.print_shrink_to_fit true print.printer_TheMonk.print_to_file false print.printer_TheMonk.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_unwriteable_margin_left 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_unwriteable_margin_right 0 print.printer_TheMonk.print_unwriteable_margin_top 0 Graphics Adapter Description Intel(R) HD Graphics Family Vendor ID 0x8086 Device ID 0x0a16 Adapter RAM Unknown Adapter Drivers igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igd12umd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 igd12umd32 Driver Version 20.19.15.4531 Driver Date 9-29-2016 Adapter Description (GPU #2) NVIDIA GeForce 840M Vendor ID (GPU #2) 0x10de Device ID (GPU #2) 0x1341 Adapter RAM (GPU #2) 2048 Adapter Drivers (GPU #2) C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvd3dumx,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2umx,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2umx,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2umx C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvd3dum,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2um,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2um,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvhmwu.inf_amd64_dbb067faa566eee8\nvwgf2um Driver Version (GPU #2) 21.21.13.6909 Driver Date (GPU #2) 8-1-2016 Direct2D Enabled false DirectWrite Enabled false (10.0.14393.351) ClearType Parameters ClearType parameters not found WebGL Renderer Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics Family Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.316930d51ea9) GPU Accelerated Windows 0 AzureCanvasBackend skia AzureSkiaAccelerated 0 AzureFallbackCanvasBackend cairo AzureContentBackend cairo JavaScript Incremental GC 1 Accessibility Activated 0 Prevent Accessibility 0 Library Versions Expected minimum version Version in use NSPR 4.12 4.12 NSS 3.21.3 Basic ECC 3.21.3 Basic ECC NSS Util 3.21.3 3.21.3 NSS SSL 3.21.3 Basic ECC 3.21.3 Basic ECC NSS S/MIME 3.21.3 Basic ECC 3.21.3 Basic ECC

Have turned anti spam off and restarted TB - still no luck unfortunately

Cheers John

Ok, my opinion of symantec products is the result of living thought the 1990 with them, when my son started calling it Norton's resource stealer.. They got better for a while and I feel returned to their previous bad habits. One of which is basically preventing things working of you turn features off.

hence

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 10, 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.

Off Topic - what secuirty program do you recommend.

Ok. We have good news and weird news.

On the good news front. Started the laptop in safe mode and opened up TB and voila - emails started flowing in.

On the weird front - re-started laptoop in normal mode, with Norton in all its 'glory' anti-spam wise and the emails are now coming in normally.

It is almost like something got 'jammed' in the system.

Many thanks for your help.

John

That's Norton products for you. when you get duplicate mail downloading, try the same fix. It is almost certain to happen some time.

But I am pleased all is good now.

s_jpriest said

Off Topic - what secuirty program do you recommend.

I know we are past this. But there are some links on my anti virus blog posting that point to discussions on the topic by folk far more qualified than me to comment.

https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2017/01/anti-virus-again.html