Hello Toad-Hall - My name is Mike Walters and I am a friend of Hal's who has been corresponding with you. Hal was taken to the hospital last Monday and I am trying to watch his little dog and answer what e-mail that I can. I know virtually nothing about computers so this problem will have to wait until he gets home. We are not sure just when that might be. The doctors are still running tests to try and find out what is happening. I'll let him know that I responded to you. - Mike Walters

Sir - I just returned home from the hospital yesterday afternoon and found that my computer had gone berserk under Mike's watch. I had to reinstall Firefox and Thunderbird along with various other software. I'm afraid things are really screwed up. When I reinstalled Thunderbird it didn't ask me anything about whether or not my mail server was POP or SMTP. The latest version was automatically installed and the server was set to SMTP. I have all of my folders and some have messages and some don't. All of my filters are missing along with all of my contacts. I am at a loss and don't know where to go from here. My laptop with all of my contacts has bitten the dust also; so, until I can get it fixed I can't use it for anything. If you don't want to continue helping me, I will understand. Thank you.

Frankly, this about the third time I've lost every email for every account after some kind of update. I lose all of my message filtering, distribution lists...everything. And it's a real PITA to put it all back.

Trying to follow the instructions for recovering some lost profile is confusing at best, and I have a computer background.

I'm going to look for another email client. I love Tbird, but I don't love this problem. I don't know why they can't write code that leaves the profile alone during an update, or at least doesn't lose it. As a former programmer, I find this unacceptable. Unless I can be assured that I won't have to go through this [expletive deleted] procedure AGAIN!, I may as well try to find a product that won't hurt my business or drive me crazy.

Well, support? Is this something you're working on?

I have lost everything. I do not want to re-set up thunderbird, I want my old one back. Everything is gone. In the Programs (x86) all that is left is uninstall numerous files but no profile or anything. This is so frustrating. I rely on this client for everything. In the past, I could move the profile to where it needed to be to be recognized, but now there is no profile to do that and I am at a place in the install where it wants me now set up everything. I need to talk to someone. I am frustrated with trying to find fixes that may or may not work. Is there a chat capability?

I have lost everything. I do not want to re-set up thunderbird, I want my old one back. Everything is gone. In the Programs (x86) all that is left is uninstall numerous files but no profile or anything. This is so frustrating. I rely on this client for everything. In the past, I could move the profile to where it needed to be to be recognized, but now there is no profile to do that and I am at a place in the install where it wants me now set up everything. I need to talk to someone. I am frustrated with trying to find fixes that may or may not work. Is there a chat capability?

re : In the Programs (x86) all that is left is uninstall numerous files but no profile or anything.

That is where the program is installed and nothing to do with profile.

re: Is there a chat capability?

Thunderbird is a free program and offers Support from other users who do so in an unpaid voluntary capacity. There are no phone lines etc as other Thunderbird users can be anywhere in the world.

You do not say whether you reinstalled the OS or performed a Windows recovery or updated from version 10 to 11. Can you clarify this ? If yes, then look for a folder called 'windows.old' located on C : Drive. It is available for a month before Windows deletes it. In 'windows.old' locate C:/Users/username/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird. Get a copy of the 'Thunderbird' folder and put it somewhere you can easily access eg: Desktop then report back and I'll tell you how to use it.

You can check to see if Thunderbird still has profiles, they will be here: C:/Users/username/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles See image below on how to locate this. What is in the 'Profiles' folder ? Post an image as it may still have old profile. Note: Appdata is a hidden folder so make hidden folders visible.

If you see one Profile name folder in the 'Profiles' folder, select it to see contents. How many 'prefs.js' and 'prefs-x.js' (where x is a number) files do you see ? Make sure you have the view to show 'details' so you can see the 'Size' column etc. Post image showing 'prefs.js' files. It is possible the old pref.js is available containing information, but the new 'prefs.js' does not contain much data, so Thunderbird cannot locate the mail accounts. I can tell you what to do, if you have more than one 'prefs.js' file.