Yes but it didn't change today. The date stamp of prefs-402.js is from March 17

PLEASE follow Mapenzi's recommended prefs file. That last one you mentioned has zero content.

Wow! Yay! We’ve done it !! It seems to have come back !!! I do have a gap between 17-21 March, but hopefully I have kept important messages on my iPad and iPhone.

Thank you both for your patience. Is there anyway I can reward you both?

Once again many thanks.

Now, go back to my post on doing a BACKUP. be sure to do that soon. I'm pleased it worked, thanks to Mapenzi's solution.

Thank you both for your patience. Is there anyway I can reward you both?

You can reward me by choosing one of my last replies as the "Chosen Solution". Thank you!

@Bigmart, your problem has been solved this time but something is foul in your Thunderbird profile. More than 400 prefs-xxx.js files instead of one and only prefs.js file is not normal. I remember a friend's Thunderbird profile containing nearly 500 prefs-xxx.js files, with Thunderbird adding a new prefs-xxx+1.js file on each startup ! The culprit was ByteFence, an anti-malware software. We uninstalled Bytefence and the nuisance was gone...

I have just checked for ByteFence and “computer says ‘no’”. My anti-virus program is Bitdefender.

My T’bird set up is that all mail comes into Gmail. This transfers into T’bird. Every5hing that comes in is automatically copied into a s3cond Gmail account which I display on my iPhone and iPad. That way I can read posts when I am out, delete them knowing the ‘original’ one is still on my PC should I want to keep it.

Everyth8ng has worked well for many years - until the other day! I do get an occasional message about Security Exemption when I post. Also Gmail have recently been sending me ‘Delivery Status Notification’ messages, something to do with “…an unusual rate of unsolicited mail. (Nothing more than usual).

I won’t ask you (or anyone else) to look into this now, but will post the problem until I know I have a few quiet days - unless you know an immediate answer!

I am hoping to buy a new laptop next week. Everything will start fresh and new!!

I would liked to have thanked Mapenzi and David for their time and patience with me, by clicking on ‘chosen solution’ at the end.

I just presume one clicked the ‘Chosen Solution’ button at the end of the conversation, so I clicked o; that, which was mine! Can’t see anyway in reversing that 🤔