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Is there a way to prompt for a password to access Thunderbird?

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

stiffld007
stiffld007
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I would like to protect access to the Thunderbird software on my PC by being prompted for a password (for the acct) when Thunderbird is first accessed/opened. I frequently download email (via my yahoo POP acct) to my PC and currently there's no security on the PC to prevent unauthorized access to email folders (on my PC) within Thunderbird. The master password concept doesn't apply here because email is already downloaded (thus not being accessed on an email server). Netscape back in the day provided this security feature and wondered if Thunderbird has a similar feature. Any assistance would be appreciated.

I would like to protect access to the Thunderbird software on my PC by being prompted for a password (for the acct) when Thunderbird is first accessed/opened. I frequently download email (via my yahoo POP acct) to my PC and currently there's no security on the PC to prevent unauthorized access to email folders (on my PC) within Thunderbird. The master password concept doesn't apply here because email is already downloaded (thus not being accessed on an email server). Netscape back in the day provided this security feature and wondered if Thunderbird has a similar feature. Any assistance would be appreciated.

All Replies (3)

listeruk
listeruk
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I haven't checked this as I don't use Thunderbird anymore but this addon (StartupMaster) prompts for a password (needs a Master Password set) on Thunderbird startup - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/thunderbird/addon/startupmaster/

stiffld007
stiffld007 Question owner
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listuk ... thx for the suggested fix here. Low and behold it worked like a charm! After the add-on install, I am now prompted for a master password to gain access to my Thunderbird application. Just what I was looking for! Thx for the quick response to my question and a solution that worked! You rock!

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Please note that 'StartupMaster' is an addon and therefore anyone with access to the computer could easily start up Thunderbird in safe mode which disables all addons. This addon is good if needing to stop someone with little or no knowledge on accessing emails, stored passwords etc like a young child. So you would need make certain you close Thunderbird everytime you move away from the computer to offer the best protection if using the addon. However, anyone with a little knowledge could startup Thunderbird in Safe mode via the command line.


There is also a means of setting a 'Master Password' in Thunderbird, but this will not prevent anyone from reading emails. It will offer protection against anyone seeing your stored passwords. I believe the addon uses this 'Master Password' prior to launching Thunderbird, so adding a bit more protection against eg: reading emails, but it has it's limits as explained above.. See info:


The best method I would advise, is to use is the standard method provided by Windows OS, which would be to create 'User Accounts' on your computer, which you can set a password to access. Control Panel > User Accounts

If this is the first User Account, set it up as admin. You can create other User Accounts for other people who use the computer including a Guest User Account which does not need a password.

Thunderbird Profile folder will be stored within the User account, so if you do not know the password to the User Account then you cannot get access to anything stored in that User Account. So it would protect all your emails, passwords and any other documents in any other folders including everything outside of Thunderbird, all in one go.