Have you disabled email scanning in Norton. It does not work for IMAP or gmail or AOL. It couldbe messing up the mail coming in, even though it does not work with gmail or AOL accounts anyway. They because they use SSL/TLS connection security. .

Dear Matt, Thank you for your prompt reply. I wasn't clear yesterday, didn't know enough yet. Mozilla's solution to another users same problem was to shut down TB, then firewall protection, then re-start TB, shut down TB, start firewall protection, re-start TB. Nothing about email scanning. So today at lunch I again did the firewall procedure that resulted in the same failure to log on.

Then did your instructions, shut down TB, disabled all Norton email scanning, restarted TB and same 2 account failures to log on again, but again 3 good account logins. Weird because of the 2 bad accounts 1 is gmail & 1 AOL yet other gmail & AOL accounts work.

Under “Email Antivirus Scan” I noticed a subcategory “Configure”, clicking on “Configure” box brought up the below message.

This feature does not work if your SMTP or POP3 email port is an SSL-encrypted email port. Norton supports all email programs that use non-SSL POP3 and SMTP communication protocols.

TB settings show both Gmail & AOL use SSL/TSL connectivity security that Norton says won't work. But, again, 1 Gmail & 2 AOL accounts work fine.

Exasperating.

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely, Robert.

FIXED Thunderbird! Kind of. Using Windows 10 Mail I was able to access the Gmail account but not the AOL account. This got me thinking somethings really messed up at the sources (Gmail & AOL). I downloaded & installed Mailbird (that I don't like) and got the exact same errors. Began reading help pages and found a suggestion to go into account settings on Gmail & AOL, select “Less Secure Apps” and instantly TB works! However, now I have a less secure email service. I don't consider this an acceptable fix so changed all my passwords and assigned a master password. Any idea if Gmail, AOL or Thunderbird will fix this flaw? Sincerely, Robert.

IGmail and yahoo were blocking your access. Choosing 'less secure apps' option is not less secure if you use a good strong password. It's just the term gmail and yahoo use as they prefer you to either use their webmail or use AOuth2 as the Authentication method.

IMAP accounts can choose to use OAuth2.

It is selected in Account Settings both for the imap account 'Server Settings' and also in the 'Outgoing server (SMTP)' smtp server settings. See images below as example of settings for a gmail imap account.

If you choose to change the settings. OK everything and then restart Thunderbird.

You will be prompted to logon to gmail via a browser, this is gmail making sure you really are you. Then a token is automatically stored and used instead of the normal password.

ddbob said

FIXED Thunderbird! Kind of. Using Windows 10 Mail I was able to access the Gmail account but not the AOL account. This got me thinking somethings really messed up at the sources (Gmail & AOL). I downloaded & installed Mailbird (that I don't like) and got the exact same errors. Began reading help pages and found a suggestion to go into account settings on Gmail & AOL, select “Less Secure Apps” and instantly TB works! However, now I have a less secure email service. I don't consider this an acceptable fix so changed all my passwords and assigned a master password. Any idea if Gmail, AOL or Thunderbird will fix this flaw? Sincerely, Robert.

YOu use oAuth authentication and IMAP or you use POP and less secure apps. That is how Google implemented their security and authentication. AOL have done the same thing for comcast customers. I have no idea is they have oauth for pop on their own servers.

But I really have no idea at all what prompted you to change your passwords or set a master password. Seriously that is some strange logic.

Because you changed a setting on gmail/AOL you have started using a password to encrypt your passwords stored in Thunderbird. While it is probably admirable to have a maser password, enabling less secure apps is a very poor reason to use one.

Now your connection to AOL and GMail is over an SSL/TLS connection, so all the traffic is encrypted. The same sort of encryption HTTPS secure web pages use. So lets put this into perspective. It is good enough for your bank password to travel over a HTTPS connection and for you to pay your bills online, but it does not provide a sufficient level of encryption for your email password. Really.

So I hate the use of the "less secure apps" description to frighten folk into using oauth. It might be more secure than using a normal password and TLS connection encryption. But the weak point is still the provider that holds your user name and password. Oauth still starts with a password. If Yahoo were to loose tens of millions of user names and passwords once, they probably will again so any yahoo property is really not any better whatever authentications method is used.

Thank you Matt & Toad-Hall for the explanations. Confirmed my thoughts it was a Gmail & AOL issue. They should've informed users of the change. I changed pass words because the notice of “Less Secure Apps” spooked me. Also, a few weeks ago I was the victim of a check scam & as I write no checks it's a mystery how the fraudsters got my bank account number. Last, as I'd just closed, opened accounts & upgraded to more complicated pass words on everything else might as well change the emails. Best of all it works. Sincerely, Robert.

I'm trying to make TBird work with POP on AOL. I've used the same email credentials since the dawn of time, but logging in to AOL became hit-or-miss a couple months ago. Today, it's consistent -- I get either a "server error" or "server timeout" message.

Current POP AOL settings, according to https://help.aol.com/articles/verizon-move-to-aol-mail-updating-your-third-party-email-program-or-mobile-device-with-your-new-account-information-pop3, are:

Incoming mail server (POP3): pop.verizon.net POP3-995-SSL Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.verizon.net SMTP-465-SSL

I've set up TBird that way, and set AOL settings to use low security, but my TBird logins are rejected. This has been intermittent for the last few months, but I could eventually get logged in by logging on to AOL webmail (same credentials as used in TBird) and restarting TBird, but today nothing works.

I spent about 40 minutes trying to find someone in Verizon who had a clue, but finally gave up. Now I'm going to try AOL "support", but I'm not optimistic.

AOL "premium" support just gave up after wasting over an hour of my time, and blamed Thunderbird. They say TBird is rejecting their server, whatever that means, and they couldn't/wouldn't give me any tech information about that.

re :They say TBird is rejecting their server, No, it is the other way around. It is their server sending the error. They probably are only interested and have knowledge in webmail.

Please double check: Confirm you have used the webmail account to log onto AOL, then go to 'Account Security' and make sure this is turned off 'Two-step verification' and turn on 'Allow apps that use less secure sign in.'

In Thunderbird: Please double check that your 'username' is your full verizon email address.

Start the computer in 'Safe mode with networking' and start Thunderbird to see if there is a difference ?

What Anti-Virus are you using ?

I may have found the problem, but I don't know what to do about it, other than trying to get help from Verizon or AOL.

I've had my email address (mfa@gte.net) since the early 80s, and kept it through the Bell Atlantic/GTE merger to form Verizon. When Verizon got out of the email business, that email went to AOL and everything worked fine for a few years. But colleagues have been complaining for a long time that occasionally mail couldn't be sent to me, and now I can neither send nor receive email.

I sent this to AOL "support" (via chat) just now:

I've had my email address (mfa@gte.net) for over 30 years, and kept it through the transition to Verizon and the move to AOL. Lately, however, people have complained that they can't send me email anymore, and now (starting yesterday) I'm unable to log in to AOL's POP email service with Thunderbird.

I spent over an hour with AOL tech support this morning, through several esclations, trying to resolve this, but their conclusion was that Thunderbird (my email client) was at fault.

I'm not buying that. I'm beginning to suspect that the pop.gte.net and smtp.gte.net addresses are no longer supported by AOL servers, or (perhaps) Verizon's (?) Internet Mail Transfer Agents. The gte.net domain name resolves to 206.46.189.11, but neither pop.gte.net nor smtp.gte.net can be pinged:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.17134.407] (c) 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping pop.gte.net Ping request could not find host pop.gte.net. Please check the name and try again.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping gte.net

Pinging gte.net [206.46.189.11] with 32 bytes of data: Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 206.46.189.11:

   Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping smtp.gte.net Ping request could not find host smtp.gte.net. Please check the name and try again.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

I believe this is either an AOL or Verizon issue, but don't know how to find the right person(s) to address it. What can I do to get this fixed?

Here's what chat had to say:

================================

Hi there! My name is Alice, your Technical Support Specialist and I’ll be assisting you today! 9:22:49 AM

Hello Michael. 9:23:16 AM

Me: Hello.9:23:34 AM Alice C: Please edit your server and ports settings using the ones from this help article https://help.aol.com/articles/how-do-i-set-up-other-email-applications-to-send-and-receive-my-verizon-net-mail9:25:23 AM

If the issue persists after you updated your servers and ports settings, please contact Thunderbird and ask them to check their program.9:25:56 AM Me:I've done that, and your tech support 2nd level did that, this morning. Nothing helped. Thunderbird has been working perfectly for years and as far as I know has not changed.9:27:02 AM Alice C:Please contact Thunderbird the issue is not from our end.9:27:10 AM

Is there anything else I can assist you with at this time?9:27:12 AM Me: You've been absolutely worthless. Thanks.9:27:37 AM Alice C:You are most welcome. Have a good day!9:27:43 AM

================================

If anyone has any advice, I'd welcome it.

re :colleagues have been complaining for a long time that occasionally mail couldn't be sent to me,

Are you certain that your webmail account has not reached it's quota limits ? This would definately not accept emails on server and therefore you would not be able to download them.

No, the AOL Webmail account continues to accumulate new messages, and there are only a couple hundred messages in there.

Well, maybe it's TBird after all. After all AOL's whining about "it had to be TBird's fault", I set up Outlook as a POP client using the exact same configuration parameters as I had done for TBird, and ... it works fine. OTOH, who knows what Outlook does with the parameters I give it, but I'm going to try to find out.

Update: I found out, and Outlook just uses what I gave it. I set up a POP account in Outlook, using all the same parameters that had failed in TBird (these settings from AOL's web page:

https://help.aol.com/articles/verizon-move-to-aol-mail-updating-your-third-party-email-program-or-mobile-device-with-your-new-account-information-pop3):

Server Settings Port Settings Incoming mail server (POP3): pop.verizon.net POP3-995-SSL Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.verizon.net SMTP-465-SSL

Outlook then worked fine.

So, I went back and once again made sure everything in TBird was set that way, and made sure the passwords were all the same (again), restarted TBird, and...

Now TBird works fine. I might add that when the AOL tech had control of my PC (over my objection) he changed server ports, tried to change my email address, and a few other things, seemingly at random, leaving things in a mess. But it looks like after cleaning up his mess, and putting things back the way they were when I first called them, TBird started working.

Time for an adult beverage.

Toad-Hall said

re :They say TBird is rejecting their server, No, it is the other way around. It is their server sending the error. They probably are only interested and have knowledge in webmail.

• • Pretty much, and they don't like POP very much.

Please double check: Confirm you have used the webmail account to log onto AOL, then go to 'Account Security' and make sure this is turned off 'Two-step verification' and turn on 'Allow apps that use less secure sign in.'

• • I did, and it was.

In Thunderbird: Please double check that your 'username' is your full verizon email address.

• • It was/is.

Start the computer in 'Safe mode with networking' and start Thunderbird to see if there is a difference ?

• • Never did that, but I'll keep it in mind for next time.

What Anti-Virus are you using ?

• • Windows Defender and MalwareBytes.

Problem eventually went away, but I hesitate to use the term "solved". Thanks for the guidance.

Quick question: When I make a change to server settings or passwords for an email account, must I restart Thunderbird to have those changes take effect?

MichaelArmstrong said

Quick question: When I make a change to server settings or passwords for an email account, must I restart Thunderbird to have those changes take effect?

No, not usually. But with some security programs running you have to to get the security software to wake up that something has changed, so a Thunderbird restart is required.

The problem continues. After working well for the last few days, I can no longer log in via TBird (Now at 60.3.3 (32-bit)). Outlook and AOL webmail work fine with the same credentials. 3 error messages:

Sending of password for user mfa@gte.net did not succeed. Mail server pop.verizon.net responded: + and Server timed out and Login to server pop.verizon.net with username mfa@gte.net failed.

Restarting TBird, re-logging in to AOLmail, etc., don't change anything. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I'm trying to use POP?

MichaelArmstrong said

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I'm trying to use POP?

Perhaps...... But as an out of left field try.

Open the config editor and change the value of network.dns.disableIPv6 value to True.

I saw this in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1242209 and started to wonder if a lot of these inexplicable errors we are seeing are more to do with DNS and IPV6 than anything else we have been looking at and testing. So I am trying you out as a guinea pig really.

If it works, I would say there is a config problem with your ISP. But if it works it does not really matter to you does it.

Further (and final, for now) update. Last night I restarted everything from the DSL router on up to TBird, and the problem remained.

This morning, I came back to the PC, where TBird was open and waiting, and clicked "Get Messages", and everything worked fine. I still don't know what the problem is, but it's certainly something between my router and AOL.

Is there any kind of diagnostic mode for TBird that would allow me to do a network trace to see exactly what's going on? I'm going to fire up the trace built in to Windows, but it's been a long time...

We need a "Maybe" option in the WAS THIS HELPFUL ...? Response.

After I posted my previous (8:26AM today) note, I went to reply to an incoming mail, and the old problem returned. I restarted TBird, and it worked fine.

I just changed the network.dns.disableIPv6 value to True, and will keep you posted.

Oh, and it's not POP - Outlook is set up as a POP account (same config as TBird), and consistently works.