Something you guys changed today (according to my ISP) made Thunderbird start asking for an outgoing smtp password and then not recognize it.
Your support pages are out of date; you tell me to go to Tools > Options, but there is no Options under Tools. I found the outgoing email password elsewhere (no help from you), and I have verified that it is the one that my ISP expects, but until I turned off password authentication completely I cannot connect.
My question: am I opening a security loophole by leaving authentication off?
Alle Antworten (3)
The Tools > Options path is for Windows, and has never been the location for MacOS users. Try [Program Name] > Preferences.
When using Knowledgebase support articles, if the site's scripts do not adapt the pages to Mac, you can use the Editing Tools section in the left column to select Mac and then the instructions should update.
When using steps in a past thread, try to determine whether the poster was using Mac, or you'll need to make a mental translation.
ggunn1 said
... until I turned off password authentication completely I cannot connect.
My question: am I opening a security loophole by leaving authentication off?
What did you change, exactly?
When Thunderbird sends your username and password to the server, you want to have either STARTTLS or SSL/TLS active (whichever your provider supports) so that your account credentials are not easily stolen in transit. I don't know if the other settings are critical, but it would help if you explain what changed.
Thanks for the Mac/PC info; it would be helpful if the help pages made that clear. As far as what changed, I have no idea; I didn't change anything or know what changed. All I know is that my outgoing email quit working and my ISP said it was because Thunderbird made some changes to the way it communicates with the servers that "may cause some difficulties to some users". It started asking for my password, which I provided (the correct one, which I verified with my ISP), but outgoing email still failed.
I have no knowledge of STARTTLS or SSL/TLS - what they are or what they do, or which one my ISP supports. Would it really be too much to ask that Thunderbird notify their users of a change they make and how to make email work again instead of just "Surprise! Your email doesn't work any more; good luck figuring out why."?
ggunn1 said
As far as what changed, I have no idea; I didn't change anything or know what changed.
Sorry I wasn't clear. What I'm asking is what you meant by this: "I turned off password authentication completely".
I have no knowledge of STARTTLS or SSL/TLS - what they are or what they do, or which one my ISP supports.
Do they have a setting page? You can compare their specified settings with your Thunderbird account settings. See: Manual Account Configuration/.
Would it really be too much to ask that Thunderbird notify their users of a change they make and how to make email work again instead of just "Surprise! Your email doesn't work any more; good luck figuring out why."?
The last release of Thunderbird was on August 16th. These are the release notes, indicating mostly bug fixes and not a dramatic change since the 52.0 release on April 4th.
https://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/52.3.0/releasenotes/
However, if you had a significantly earlier version before, then there may have been a lot of accumulated changes as a result of the deferred upgrade.