delete the nstmp folders... they are post compact and will not have your latest mail in them.

The usual cause of grinding to a halt like this is an anti virus program.

try rebooting in windows safe mode and trying the compact.

matt, thanks for your quick reply. i uninstalled system mechanic and malwarebytes both licensed. went to safemode without networking and tried compacting TB inbox with the same results. after about 1:15 minutes there was still disk activity but TB was "not responding". ctrl-alt-del did not bring task manager. i read about TB safemode but do not know how to access it, would that be useful? I am somewhat familier with Win mechanics and can provide you with any data you might need to solve this issue. I have P dual core cpu 3.06 GHz. 8 gigs ram, Win 7 ultimate 64bit.

thanks again Jonathan Arms

The fact there is disk activity sounds to me like the job is big. because most of the Thunderbird interface is written in XML and javascript not responding can occur while the program is still functioning but the user interface is locked.

Right click the inbox folder and select properties. What is the size on disk?

size on disk for the in box is 1.3 gigabytes. any idea on how long this should take to clear. is there a way to clear the old deleted files manually?

1.3 Gb for 11 hundred emails. Yep it is a job well overdue. But a few minutes should be all that is required.

I am guessing that the hard disk might also be older and perhaps having it's first failures.

Windows Explorer > right click the drive and select properties and then the tools tab select check now under check for errors. In all probability you will have to reboot for the error checking to work and it will be exceedingly slow. Overnight is indicated unless you like watching grass grow.

Then try the compact again. I am guessing somewhere in that 1.4 Gb of space there is an allocation error or a dodgy disk sector that needs to be fixed.

ok, I ran chkdsk with moving affected data selected. there were no errors. then i compacted the in box of TB over night. it didn't finish and when i clicked any other button like nstemp TB went to "not responding". I was able to set TB to work off line before compacting the inbox. what should my java runtime environment look like? should i consider reinstalling java?

If you are running out of ideas i may as well re install TB i did export all the stored emails as EMLs.

thanks again Matt for all your effort,

Jonathan Arms

There is another way. I just try and avoid it.

• This is in essence a manual compact.

1. Create a folder in Thunderbird and copy all the mail in the inbox into it.
2. Go to the tools menu (alt+T) and select account settings
3. Select the server settings for the account (or local folders if it is a local folder or global inbox problem)
4. On the right at the bottom of the screen will be a local directory. Click browse.
5. In the window that opens right click the highlighted entry and select explore. This should open windows explorer located in the folder that the offending file is located
6. Close Thunderbird by clicking cancel on all the Thunderbird windows you have open and then the X
7. Delete the inbox and inbox MSF files
8. Restart Thunderbird
9. Copy your mails back to the inbox Thunderbird created when it started up.

• Thunderbird has it's own javascript engine, it is part of the program.

• Reinstalling Thunderbird will not help as the issue is with your profile and that is unchanged by the reinstall process.

Matt thanks again for your patience and all your help. when i got to step 4 I realized that when I setup TB I put the data files on drive E. I went back to chkdsk and have been finding many errors. I will note you back in a couple of days and let you know how this plays out. looks like i will need a new hard disk.

thanks again Jonathan Arms

JonathanArms said

i now have 17 nstmp folders. my 3tb C drive is only about 60% full. admittedly I never compacted my inbox before. i have about 1169 emails in the box presently. my server is POP3 . mail.armscomm.com under network solutions. I am able to download mail on another computer using Outlook Express. please ask if you need more info Jonathan Arms

replacing the faulty hard drive resolved all issues. thanks again Matt

Jonathan Arms