Thunderbird freezes when writing email
I have been using Thunderbird as my mail client for years. Two days ago, when writing email, Thunderbird would freeze up, the screen would fade, an hourglass cursor would appear, and the message "Not responding" would appear at the top of the screen. This happens randomly at multiple times in the same email. I have to wait between 30-60 seconds before I could regain control of the screen. This has happened numerous times over different messages.
I referred the problem to the Geek Squad. The first attempt to solve the problem resulted in freeing up space on my laptop. That did not help and the problem reoccurred this morning. I again went to the Geek Squad. The agent again ran diagnostics and supposedly cleaned the laptop. He told me that Thunderbird was obsolete and there increasing conflicts with Windows. He recommended that I switch to either Outlook or Gmail for my mail client. As a long time user of Thunderbird, I am reluctant to do this. Among the reasons for my reluctance is that I have years of email stored in local and Thunderbird Inbox and Sent folders.
I am running Windows 11 and Thunderbird 102.5.1 (64-bit).
I would appreciate any advice you can give me. My preference is to stay with Thunderbird.
All Replies (11)
OK, I'm no hardware guru, but I'm always suspicious when people in tech support attempt to 'solve' problems by redirecting to what they know. Thunderbird is state of the art and working for many thousands of users. Maybe if you provide some information on your account, it may identify some suggestions. Is this IMAP or POP? What is the account? What is size of mail folders? Any addons being used? Other software, such as VPN that may affect performance? Antivirus? Any change you can think of that may have been done at the time the problem started?
The server is a POP3. There is no VPN. The antivirus is Webroot. There are only two add-ons, Awesome Emoji Picker and Textmarker.
This is no area of expertise for me, but I saw your request and wanted to give some possibilities: - in config editor you could change the timeout - it defaults to 100. I suggest change to 250
mailnews.tcptimeout
- also in config editor, change mail.db.idle_limit set to 30000000 to minimize cpu overhead
- I would also suggest reinstalling Thunderbird directly on top of what you have, just in case some component became corrupted. (To be safe, I would backup profile first.) That is, do NOT uninstall. Just install over what you have.
None of this may work, but it's not bad computer hygeine. The real culprit may be something in Windows that is interrupting your Thunderbird. And if Webroot was recently updated, it may be contributing.
First, see if the problem persists in safe mode (hold Shift when launching TB). If it does, run Windows in safe mode to test the possible interference of startup apps like antivirus, VPN etc. on TB performance.
This article has some obsolete references, but is still useful.
Thanks for the advice.
I am taking things one at a time starting with the config editor. I have changed mailnews.tcptimeout from 100 to 250. In doing so, I noticed that mail.server.server4.timeout was set to 29. It was highlighted as a change with deleting the setting as the only option other than editing the setting. Thus, I don't know if this was an added setting. There is no undo/redo option other than setting a new parameter. Could this be the cause? All other settings seem to be the original settings.
Adjusting the tcptimeout pref. hardly ever helps, especially if the 'not responding' is caused by the more likely source, antivirus. Not sure what mail.server.server#.timeout does, but its value is 29 for all my accounts.
Neither changes in config nor running Thunderbird in safe mode worked. Problem persists.
Try with Windows in safe mode. You probably have to exclude the TB profile folder from Webroot scanning, disable scanning of the TB executable etc., which is explained here.
The problem may be unique to my laptop I do not have the problem with a new desktop running on Windows 11 like the laptop. Both are running Thunderbird 102.6.1 (64-bit).
re :when writing email, Thunderbird would freeze up, the screen would fade, an hourglass cursor would appear, and the message "Not responding" would appear at the top of the screen.
Does this temporary 'freezing' in 'Write' window coincide with the timing you have set up to auto save a draft ?
- 'Settings' > 'Composition'
- Auto Save every X minutes
As a test, I suggest you uncheck that 'auto save' option, then exit Thunderbird - wait a few moments and restart Thunderbird. Write emails and see if there is any interuption now that there is no auto saving of draft.
Please report on results.
Regarding 'Webroot':
I would be inclined to believe that webroot is periodicaly scanning the email and this may coincide with when it is being auto-saved.
Firewall: Thunderbird must be set up as an allowed application.
The Thunderbird profile folder should also be exempt from scanning.
re :The problem may be unique to my laptop I do not have the problem with a new desktop
Are you using Webroot on both ?
Is Thunderbird set up on both computers? Is the account set up as POP on both or have you accidentally got it set up as POP on desktop and IMAP on the laptop ?
Webroot help info - useful link you may want to bookmark: https://docs.webroot.com/us/en/home/wsa_pc_userguide/wsa_pc_userguide.htm#GettingStarted/GettingStarted.htm