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Thunderbird Mail problems (with AVG installed)

  • 18 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 370 views
  • Last reply by Steamgo

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Good afternoon. Since the latest update to Thunderbird has arrived I keep getting a message when I log-on to retrieve my E-mails which says “ You are attempting to override how Thunderbird identifies this site. Click below to create a security exception.”

So each time I have to click on the box which prompts me to create a security exception. When I click the box to “ save “ the exception, it makes no difference. I have to do it every time.

As if this were not bad enough, I am now getting asked to “ verify my password “ for each of my two E-mail accounts, every time I try to access my E-mails. This never happened to me before and has only started over the past week or so.

I have AVG security in addition to their “ Premium Technical Support “ which costs a lot of money. I telephoned them today and spoke with two of their technical advisers, also gave them remote access to my PC so they could fix the problem. I spent almost TWO HOURS on the telephone while they tried various things, checked my operating system, checked the server details on Thunderbird and also ran the “ RKILL “ programme to check for any faults. They told me everything was fine. But after they had gone and I tried again to access Thunderbird, the same problems re-occurred. Surely there must be a simple way to address these two issues. I am getting very fed-up and wish I could simply speak to a technician on the telephone instead of like this ! Why can’t we do that ?

Good afternoon. Since the latest update to Thunderbird has arrived I keep getting a message when I log-on to retrieve my E-mails which says “ You are attempting to override how Thunderbird identifies this site. Click below to create a security exception.” So each time I have to click on the box which prompts me to create a security exception. When I click the box to “ save “ the exception, it makes no difference. I have to do it every time. As if this were not bad enough, I am now getting asked to “ verify my password “ for each of my two E-mail accounts, every time I try to access my E-mails. This never happened to me before and has only started over the past week or so. I have AVG security in addition to their “ Premium Technical Support “ which costs a lot of money. I telephoned them today and spoke with two of their technical advisers, also gave them remote access to my PC so they could fix the problem. I spent almost TWO HOURS on the telephone while they tried various things, checked my operating system, checked the server details on Thunderbird and also ran the “ RKILL “ programme to check for any faults. They told me everything was fine. But after they had gone and I tried again to access Thunderbird, the same problems re-occurred. Surely there must be a simple way to address these two issues. I am getting very fed-up and wish I could simply speak to a technician on the telephone instead of like this ! Why can’t we do that ?

Modified by Wayne Mery

Chosen solution

re :Made another attempt to copy and paste the desktop icon I have got on my PC , from Mail Shield. You cannot copy and paste an icon as an image, you have to create the image first. So make sure you can see it on desktop, then press the 'Prt Scr' key on keyboard. Open program called 'Paint' Right click in paint and select 'Paste' Then 'Save as' > jpeg and choose to save to desktop and give file a name. Now you have an image which you upload to this forum In a 'Post a REply' text box, type some text describing the image below is the 'Add images' ..click on 'Browse' button locate the image on the desktop and click on 'Open' to upload image. It will appear as a small thumbnail image. click on 'Post reply' button.


When you exported certificate from AVG you should get an icon called 'MailShield.der' - maybe they now call it 'security certificate.der 'and it would either be on desktop or in downloads folder. Do not click to open.

As per info at the link I gave which shows images, In Thunderbird Certificate area - 'Authorities' tab - when you click on 'Import' you then need to locate that downloaded 'MailShield.der' icon on desktop, select it and click on 'Open' to import it into Thunderbird.

Please confirm you have downloaded the correct certificate: In AVG Menu ▸ Settings. Click the Search icon in the top-right corner. Type geek:area into the text box that appears, and select AVG Geek from the search results. Scroll to the Email Shield section. Ensure the box next to Scan SSL connections is ticked, then click Perform next to Export certificate. If asked choose to download to desktop, but it may download to that location by default.

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All Replies (18)

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Thanks for your prompt response. Being something of a computer " newbie " I would never have figured that out for myself ! Having tried your 'fix ' I no longer appear to be getting the message saying " you are attempting to override the way in which Thunderbird tries to identify the site." Which is great. However, I am now getting asked to enter my password each time I try to send an E-mail. When I type out the E-mail and click on " send " it tells me the mail has not been sent and I first have to enter my password. Have tried putting a tick in the box which says " remember my password " but it does no good. This has only started happening over the past few days. Before that, everything was working fine. Is there anything you can do for me on this point ?

Finally, I wanted to check with you that I have the correct port numbers on the " server settings " page. I have incoming port 110 ( I think !! ) and outgoing port 587. Should I change one of these to something else ? By the way, please could you put any advice into layman's terms so that I may easily comprehend it ? Many thanks.

TAM.

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re:I am getting very fed-up and wish I could simply speak to a technician on the telephone instead of like this ! Why can’t we do that ? It is a free product; this is a free Support Forum manned by other Thunderbird users offering their free time in a voluntary capacity to help others. Those people are situated all around the world. There are no regional offices with paid employees - unlike AVG who do and they charge for it.

re : I wanted to check with you that I have the correct port numbers on the " server settings " page. All servers have their own server settings, so we would need to know what server you are trying to connect to and whether you use Pop or Imap. You could post the following information: In Thunderbird Help > Troubleshooting Information Mail and News Accounts section Copy all the information and paste into a 'Post a Reply' text box this question in the forum.


Maybe the 'Firewall' which could be controlled by your Anti-Virus product is not recognising Thunderbird as an allowed program. Exit Thunderbird and access the Firewall. Thunderbird must be an allowed program otherwise the Firewall will prevent Thunderbird from using the internet. Check this is set up. Then start Thunderbird.

Maybe the passwords are being erased by some software on your computer that cleans up session and password files. Products like CCleaner can do this. AVG does have AVG PC TuneUp which can also do this. You would need to make sure these products do not have access to Thunderbird folder which holds your profile information. Make Thunderbird folder exempt.

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Oh Dear ! I thought your " fix " had worked but evidently not. Tried to log-on again to my E-mails this afternoon and instead of being able to view my incoming mail boxes ( 2 ) I immediately got the message that " you are attempting to override how Thunderbird identifies this site." So yet again I had to click on the box which says to " create security exception." Unfortunately, it seems not possible to " save " this information for the next time I log-on. So I am forced to go through the same process each time.

Not only that, but when I attempt to send an E-mail I am now getting the message " enter your password " and so each time I have to enter my password for the secondary E-mail account. It does not seem to require the password for my primary E-mail account.

All of this never happened until about 10 days ago. I wonder whether Thunderbird has issued an up-date which may be causing all the trouble ? Finally, I'd be glad to have your confirmation as to which port numbers I should be using. Currently I have the incoming port set to 110 ( although I found a note which says it used to be 995 !! ) and the out-going port is 587. Are these all correct ?

Please can you help as this is all driving me MAD ! ( as if the corona lockdown is not bad enough ! )

TAM.

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Access AVG Menu > Settings >Components > Email Shield - Customize, SSL scanning, then export Certificate https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlName=AVG-Troubleshoot-invalid-email-certificate&q=Export+certificate&supportType=home

Thunderbird : Menu app icon > Options select 'Privacy & Security' Scroll to bottom and look for 'Certificates' section click on 'Manage Certificates' Select 'Authorities' if it already installed AVG certificate, delete it first Click on 'Import' select the exported certificate from AVG when finished click on 'Done'

Restart Thunderbird.

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Hello Toad Hall. Many thanks for your suggestions. Unfortunately - and being something of a computer " newbie " - I am not able to handle all of this. I tried to do what you said and got as far on Thunderbird as the bit which says " Manage Certificates " and then " Authorities." But after that I got stuck. There are two items listed under " Authorities " which look like AVG - but not sure whether you mean me to delete them first, or click on " Import " first, or what ? This is where it would be so nice to speak with someone who might talk me through it. Naturally I am frightened in case I delete something which I shouldn't.

Also tried the other suggestion about AVG and trying to " export " the Certificate. I seem to have now got something called Web Shield and it says " Install AVG Web Shield for Web Mail / Web Root " But when I clicked on " install " nothing has happened. Or if something HAS happened, then it makes no difference to my problem. I am still getting asked to " create security exception " as well as to insert my E-mail password before I can access my E-mails or send an E-mail. Are you able to explain in a little more detail so that I don't make a mistake ? I also checked on Thunderbird to see whether it has stored my passwords and it shows me the two passwords which are stored. They are the identical passwords which I have been inserting when asked to do so. But why does it keep asking me when it already has the correct passwords installed ?

Thanks in anticipation.

Steamgo.

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Did you follow the instructions that were included in the link that I gave you? https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlName=AVG-Troubleshoot-invalid-email-certificate&q=Export+certificate&supportType=home They also provided images. It tells you what to do step by step.

Although the Thunderbird images at that link are a bit dated, it is the same location as I posted: Menu app icon > Options select 'Privacy & Security' Scroll to bottom and look for 'Certificates' section click on 'Manage Certificates'

Delete all certificates connected to 'AVG Email Scanner' on the 'Servers' tab by selecting all connected certificates, clicking Delete, and then clicking OK to confirm.

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If you are uncomfortable navigating certificates and trying to avoid issues with AVG, you are far better off removing AVG and using the built-in Windows Security, as long as the TB profile folder is added as an Exception in the Security settings (Virus and threat protection settings). Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles, to see the profile folder location.

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Hi Guys

Very many thanks for your continued support which is much appreciated. I don't know what I would do otherwise ! This morning when I logged-on to my Thunderbird account to check-out the latest E-mails there was no request to supply my passwords. Don't know why. Perhaps I may have ticked the right box somewhere but having ticked a lot of boxes recently ( ! ) I can't remember which ones ! Anyway, the only problem this morning is that I am still being asked to " confirm the certificate exception " each time, and there must be a way to stop this happening. Even when I tick the box to say " remember this exception " it makes no difference. Can't understand it.

Many thanks for your latest suggestions which I will go through again either later today or possibly tomorrow. Fortunately, I am still able to send and receive E-mails. The only problem is the constant message saying " you are attempting to override how Thunderbird identifies this site. click below to create a security exception." I'll try your suggestions again but please give me a day or two.

Finally, I am attaching a picture of something I have saved to my desktop through " Mail Shield." I tried to import or was it export ( ? ) something as instructed but right now, being a computer " newbie " I don't know whether to tick the box marked " install the certificate " or not. Should I simply tick the box and see if this solves the problem ? Please advise. Sorry. Unable to upload the picture.

Many thanks for your help and advice.

Steamgo.

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Made another attempt to copy and paste the desktop icon I have got on my PC , from Mail Shield. Can't figure out whether to click on " install certificate " or not ! Unfortunately, repeated attempts to download it and send it to you as an attachment all failed. Apparently the file is a " security certificate.der " and is not accepted by my mail server or windows so I just get an error / invalid message. Never came across this before. But this means I am not able to upload a picture of the desktop icon from Mail Shield. So you will just have to imagine it ! Sorry about that. But can you please advise whether I should tick the box or not ? Might be worth risking it unless my entire system is likely to crash and my PC dissolve into little pieces ! Many thanks. Steamgo.

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Chosen Solution

re :Made another attempt to copy and paste the desktop icon I have got on my PC , from Mail Shield. You cannot copy and paste an icon as an image, you have to create the image first. So make sure you can see it on desktop, then press the 'Prt Scr' key on keyboard. Open program called 'Paint' Right click in paint and select 'Paste' Then 'Save as' > jpeg and choose to save to desktop and give file a name. Now you have an image which you upload to this forum In a 'Post a REply' text box, type some text describing the image below is the 'Add images' ..click on 'Browse' button locate the image on the desktop and click on 'Open' to upload image. It will appear as a small thumbnail image. click on 'Post reply' button.


When you exported certificate from AVG you should get an icon called 'MailShield.der' - maybe they now call it 'security certificate.der 'and it would either be on desktop or in downloads folder. Do not click to open.

As per info at the link I gave which shows images, In Thunderbird Certificate area - 'Authorities' tab - when you click on 'Import' you then need to locate that downloaded 'MailShield.der' icon on desktop, select it and click on 'Open' to import it into Thunderbird.

Please confirm you have downloaded the correct certificate: In AVG Menu ▸ Settings. Click the Search icon in the top-right corner. Type geek:area into the text box that appears, and select AVG Geek from the search results. Scroll to the Email Shield section. Ensure the box next to Scan SSL connections is ticked, then click Perform next to Export certificate. If asked choose to download to desktop, but it may download to that location by default.

Modified by Toad-Hall

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Hello again Toad-Hall !

Many thanks for your kind and on-going support. Perhaps we are now getting close to a solution ! I have printed off all your instructions and will now go through them again on the PC to make sure I have everything correct. Will get back to you either later today or else tomorrow.

In the meantime, I have managed to take a screen print of the " Mail Shield " icon which is presently sitting on my desktop. ( never thought to take a screen shot before !! ) Will attach it to this message. Perhaps you could let me know whether I should click on " install certificate " or not. Something tells me that I have already got to the final stage by downloading the certificate exceptions page from somewhere, but only you can tell.

In any case, and just to make sure, I will go through all your latest intructions again and see what happens. Wish I knew a bit more about these kind of problems, but like I said, this has only been happening for the past ten days or so and I never had to deal with this before. Thanks again. Will be in touch. Steamgo.

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Dear Toad-Hall ! Many thanks for your help and support. I have now checked everything as per your latest instructions. Would comment as follows : As regards Thunderbird Certificate Area, I have downloaded the MailShield.der icon onto the desktop and clicked on " Open " to import it into Thunderbird like you said. When I did that, I got a message saying " Certificate is already installed as a certificate authority." ( so I must have already done whatever it needed.) Regarding AVG Menu - Settings - geek:area etc. etc. as per your instructions. I got as far as Perform and then to Download to Desktop, but then got the message " MailShield.der already exists." As you know, I now have the " MailShield " icon on the desktop, and when I click on it the only option is to install the certificate. Should I click on " install " ? By the way, at present each time I log-on to my TB E-mails I get asked to " confirm the security exception " and then I have to click on " confirm." Apart from that, all seems to be working OK. Have not been asked for my passwords this morning ! Will await your further advices when you get a moment. Many thanks. Steamgo.

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Hello again Toad-Hall. Thought you should see the screen which shows " Certificate Manager " list on Thunderbird. I am not sure whether to click on " Delete " or " Import." Or should I just ignore and leave things as they are ? Please see attached. Steamgo.

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Hello again Toad Hall. Shock. Horror ! Regarding AVG Menu - Settings - geek:area etc. etc. as per your instructions. I got as far as Perform and then to Download to Desktop, but then got the message " MailShield.der already exists." As you know, I now have the " MailShield " icon on the desktop, and when I click on it the only option is to install the certificate. Should I click on " install " ? Well, I decided yesterday to open the Mail Shield icon on my desktop and click on " install." Since that was the only option. However, although for some reason Thunderbird is no longer asking for my passwords ( don't know why ! ) having carried out all your previous instructions I am still getting the message like before each time I go on to Thunderbird. I am asked to " confirm the security exception " and then I have to click on " confirm." Apart from that, all seems to be working OK. Have not been asked for my passwords this morning ! Are you able to suggest where we go from here ? Do hope so ! Many thanks. Steamgo.

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re :Well, I decided yesterday to open the Mail Shield icon on my desktop and click on " install." but then got the message " MailShield.der already exists." You do not just click on the icon on the desktop - it has to be done exactly as stated below via Thunderbird 'Import'.

You showed me an image of the Thunderbird 'Certificate Manager' window. On the 'Authorities' tab, it shows you already have AVG WEb/Mail Shield. You need to select them and click on 'Delete' to remove them.

Then click on 'Import' and select the 'MailShield.der' icon onto the desktop and click on "Open" to import it. If it then asks whether to install then yes you do want to install.

Modified by Toad-Hall

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Hello again Toad-Hall. Sorry to report that despite carrying out all your instructions ( as above ) the problem still persists. Each time I log-on to Thunderbird to view my E-mails, I get the window that tells me " you are attempting to override how Thunderbird identifies this site." The only " option " listed is to " confirm security exception." Which I have to do each time. I have done everything you told me and we are obviously on the right track. But there must be something I have missed, or a box I have failed to tick, although I can't for the life of me see what it can be. Perhaps it would save a lot of time if we could speak on the telephone ? Doing things this way is very time-consuming. What do you think ? Many thanks. Steamgo.

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Dear Toad-Hall As you know, I had followed all the advice you gave me going back to the 26th November. But despite trying everything as per your " instructions " nothing seemed to work. I know you did your best to help - for which, many thanks. However, the same problems kept persisting no matter what I did. Perhaps these " Forums " are good for minor problems which can be solved with just a couple of clicks, but for more complicated issues I venture to suggest that one needs to speak with an expert. So, still tearing my hair out yesterday, I contacted my local computer shop and was connected to a nice chap who was working from home. He was able to take over my PC remotely and I could see him checking all the E-mail connections, Certificates, Accounts, etc. etc. and even then it took him over an hour to fix the problem. He has kindly charged me for only half-an-hour's work ( £40 ) which I feel is very reasonable. Everything is now looking good, E-mail addresses working fine, and I don't get all the " error " messages any more. Am keeping my fingers crossed that things will stay this way !! Just wish I could have solved the problem by means of a telephone call ( with Thunderbird ) a lot sooner and without so much " trial and error " over the past fortnight. I much prefer a telephone call. Anyway, no worries and thanks again for all your efforts. Most kind of you. I shall now mark this issue as closed. Steamgo.