Thunderbird freezes for several minutes every time an operation is done while Inbox is open
Hi all,
I've been using Thunderbird for eons but yesterday morning it started freezing up constantly.
It freezes up ("Thunderbird is not responding") every time new emails are received or any time I take any action while the Inbox folder is open. So, if I delete an email it freezes for a few minutes. If I do anything pretty much, it freezes up for a few minutes. Then it comes back and I can do another action, and it freezes again. This only seems to be happening when I have the Inbox open - if I go to other folders it seems to function normally.
Things I've tried without success: - Troubleshooting mode - Adding exceptions for my profile folders to Windows Defender - Compressing Inbox (and Trash and Junk) - Repairing the Inbox index
This doesn't appear to be a memory issue - right now, memory use for my entire system seems to be hovering at just over 50%. But Thunderbird is still freezing.
My Inbox folder is very large, but it's never been an issue before and nothing significant was added yesterday when it started failing.
Any suggestions appreciated!
Thanks
Chosen Solution
Update: I added the TB profile folders to Windows Defender exceptions again, rebooted, and now Thunderbird works nominally. I don't like having to make a security exception, but I'm glad it seems to be working. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!
All Replies (11)
I’m having the same problem on two computers. Thunderbird freezes a few seconds after launching. Restarting the computer doesn’t help; launching it in Troubleshoot mode freezes just the same – there’s nothing I can do. This has been happening for about 2–3 days.
Even though creating an exclusion for the Thunderbird profile folder should eliminate Defender from the list of potential culprits, you may still want to start Windows 11 in safe mode with networking enabled.
Does the problem go away?
Windows safe mode disables anti-virus software. This is a troubleshooting step, not a solution.
Note, Windows safe also disables WiFi. So you'd need a wired LAN connection for Windows safe mode.
Well, that's odd - I swear I had tried this at the start of my troubleshooting, but I did it just now and it worked! In safe mode, Thunderbird works normally. Thanks for the prompt!
So now what? I don't have any third-party antivirus running, just the native Win 11 defense.
Thanks for the lead!
Is there any other forgotten anti-virus/security software running on your computer? If you do have multiple profile folders, make sure the one you picked for the exclusion is the one you're having problems with.
Beyond that, https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems has a comprehensive list of troubleshooting steps.
christ1 modificouno o
No, no other security software running. And certainly nothing had changed the other morning when this all stopped working; this setup had been running fine for years.
Maybe that Anti-Virus is scanning every file that opened and thus taking over control albeit temporary. If you download to a file it gets opened in order to write to it. You select an email to read and file needs to get opened to read from it.
Suggest you try making your Thunderbird profile folder exempt from scanning to see it improves things. If you downloaded TB from official website: https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/
Then it's likely this is the 'Thunderbird' folder that needs to be made exempt so AV does not scan anything it contains.
- C://Users/username.Appdata/Roaming/'Thunderbird'
Can anyone provide a step-by-step guide on how to sort this out, as I’m currently unable to use the Thunderbird client – it freezes after about 5 seconds, and the same thing happens in troubleshooting mode. For now, I’m using the BlueMail client as a stopgap, and it works like a charm. No glitches or freezes. I’m not a programmer or an IT specialist; I just want it to work! Thank You.
peter.macc said
Can anyone provide a step-by-step guide on how to sort this out...
.Ideally you will have created your own question. But since you are here...
There is not necessarily one killer solution. Please see https://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems
Chosen Solution
Update: I added the TB profile folders to Windows Defender exceptions again, rebooted, and now Thunderbird works nominally. I don't like having to make a security exception, but I'm glad it seems to be working. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!
crawford2 said
Update: I added the TB profile folders to Windows Defender exceptions again, rebooted, and now Thunderbird works nominally. I don't like having to make a security exception, but I'm glad it seems to be working. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!
Could you explain how to do that? Thanks.
OK, I don’t need any more help – I’ve done it and it actually works. Won’t excluding this folder from Windows Defender scans pose any risks?
peter.macc modificouno o
peter.macc said
crawford2 said
Update: I added the TB profile folders to Windows Defender exceptions again, rebooted, and now Thunderbird works nominally. I don't like having to make a security exception, but I'm glad it seems to be working. Thanks for all the suggestions and help!Could you explain how to do that? Thanks.
OK, I don’t need any more help – I’ve done it and it actually works. Won’t excluding this folder from Windows Defender scans pose any risks?
There are pros and cons about excluding your profile from AV scanning. Here's a discussion of them:
https://kb.mozillazine.org/Email_scanning_-_pros_and_cons
The takeaway is that email attachments are not risky in of themselves. Simply opening an email is safe. It's only when you try to run the attachment that it can be potentially dangerous. If your AV is reliable, it will prevent you from running an infected file. If you don't fully trust it, and even if you do, it's always best to save the attachment and manually scan it first.
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