Recent T-Bird update is blocking another program I use
On Tuesday, September 24, 2024, Thunderbird was auto-updated on my computer. Shortly after that, I tried to start the tax preparation program I use for preparing tax returns for my clients. I am a CPA and tax preparer. The tax prep program is called "ATX" and is a product sold by Wolters-Klewer (aka CCH), and is unrelated to Thunderbird. I can no longer access my ATX tax prep program.
When I try, I get this message: "The program has encountered an unexpected error and needs to close." I have tried multiple times, and get the same error message every time. I also get that message when I try to start ATX for previous tax years. I am sure it is the Thunderbird update that is causing this, as I have made no other changes to my computer, programs, hardware, or anything else. The ATX program worked just fine up until yesterday.
I badly need that ATX program. Please help ASAP. If someone wants to call me, my number is (775) 747-4666.
Finally, the error message I get when I try to start the ATX program has a link that says "Show details." When I click that, I get a long list of gobbledegook, but one line may be relevant here. It says: "Unable to connect to the remote server ---> System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it "
I have over fifty tax return to prepare before the extended deadline of October 15th, so I desperately need to be able to open my tax prep program. I am almost certain the Thunderbird update caused this, so please help fix this right away. Thank you.
Richard Schiveley, CPA (Reno, Nevada)
All Replies (3)
My personal suggestion: this is your career. I would'
- do full backup of thunderbird profile, normally at c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird - copy anywhere while thunderbird is NOT running
- uninstall thunderbird
- do your tax accounting
- reinstall thunderbird and exit
- copy the backedup profile to same location as above
This isn't a perfect solution, but it gives you time to breath and do your thing. In the interim, you can always use your web interface. Unless thunderbird was embedded into your tax software, I am clueless on the problem. If thunderbird WAS involved/embedded into your software, then I recommend doing a backlevel to whatever version worked. Thunderbird cannot be accountable for how other products use it, so in such instances, it is best to keep the version that works.
Thank you, David. I deleted TB exactly as you suggested, and still could not start my tax prep program ... not only for tax year 2023, but for prior years as well. I even uninstalled the tax program, then downloaded and reinstalled it again, as suggested by the tax program's tech help advisor.
The error message I receive has a long list of details. Would it help if I provided those? It would probably fill about two screens here, but perhaps you or someone else would see something that may be the root problem. This all started immediately after TB auto-updated to v 128 two days ago, so that's why I think that update caused this.
Finally, I have tried to revert back to an earlier version of TB, but the download site does not seem to offer that option any more. I would go back to v 102, 91, even 78, but TB only seems to allow downloading of v 128, Any suggestions about that?
All prior releases are here: https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/ just select the desired version and then the OS and then the language.