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Thunderbird freezes up to 5 minutes when mousewheel scrolling

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  • 6 am na jafe-jafe bii
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Running Thunderbird 38.6.0 on Windows 7 x64.

A huge problem I've had over the last month or so is consistent freezing. I've noticed that it happens whenever I scroll using the mousewheel. My entire system freezes completely--the cursor, etc., even the clock freezes. Sometimes it only freezes for maybe 10-20 seconds, but at least once per day it will freeze for 3-5 minutes.

I've tried to "work around" this issue by refraining from using my mousewheel to scroll, but it inevitably happens since the movement is reflexive at this point and I'm in Thunderbird so much throughout the day.

I've got 5 or so mail accounts and a couple of them are using message filters. One has dozens of filters, though I'm not sure it's related as the number of filters has grown over time while the freezing seems to have happened all at once.

Any suggestions on what it could be or ways to diagnose the issue? Thanks!

Running Thunderbird 38.6.0 on Windows 7 x64. A huge problem I've had over the last month or so is consistent freezing. I've noticed that it happens whenever I scroll using the mousewheel. My entire system freezes completely--the cursor, etc., even the clock freezes. Sometimes it only freezes for maybe 10-20 seconds, but at least once per day it will freeze for 3-5 minutes. I've tried to "work around" this issue by refraining from using my mousewheel to scroll, but it inevitably happens since the movement is reflexive at this point and I'm in Thunderbird so much throughout the day. I've got 5 or so mail accounts and a couple of them are using message filters. One has dozens of filters, though I'm not sure it's related as the number of filters has grown over time while the freezing seems to have happened all at once. Any suggestions on what it could be or ways to diagnose the issue? Thanks!

All Replies (6)

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I would be lost without my wheel.

have you changed the batteries in the mouse. find all sorts of strange things happen when I have almost flat batteries.

I assume you have a USN mouse. Most are. What other USB devices to you have plugged it that would be sharing the USB bus with your mouse?

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Hi Matt. Thanks for the reply.

I changed out the battery in the mouse the first time it happened because I thought the mouse had died when my system was actually frozen.

Not sure what a USN mouse is, but I've got the Logitech M570.

Right now the only other USB device plugged in is my ATR2100 microphone.

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I've got 6 addons in total installed, as you can see in the attached screenshot. I figured I'd try disabling them one-by-one to see if the issue would go away.

Last night I tested out disabling Lightning, but the freezing still happened.

This morning I disabled Send Later, and so far so good. No freezing yet.

Hopefully that was causing the issue as it's the addon I could most easily go without.

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USN is a typo... USB

Ctrl+Enter is a shortcut to "Send later" it does not have the timing of the add-on, but it defers sending until you either choose to do so or close the program.

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Matt said

USN is a typo... USB Ctrl+Enter is a shortcut to "Send later" it does not have the timing of the add-on, but it defers sending until you either choose to do so or close the program.

Thanks for the tip. I was actually using it to send myself reminder emails on certain dates. But, that's not a critical function and I have other tools I can use for that. If getting rid of that plugin is all it takes to not have my system freeze up for minutes at a time, then that's a bargain.

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The problem persists. In fact it has gotten worse. It used to only freeze for a maximum of 5 minutes, but a few times it has locked up my machine for 10+ minutes. Usually I end up hitting the power reset button on my tower.

This is having a huge negative impact on my work day. Eventually it will happen when I have a client on the phone or am working on a time-critical task and will have severe consequences.

I've tried disabling all my plugins, one at a time, and there is no change.

Perhaps it is related to the number of filters and folders I have. Dozens of each. Also required for my work.

Anyone have any suggestions?

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