Thunderbird locks up whenever email is selected
I have Thunderbird 146.0.1 on a Win11 system, using POP. This setup has been in place from Windows 7, apart from the Thunderbird client version, and has worked up till the end of 2025. About October last year, I opened Thunderbird, and whenever I selected an email, or a number of emails, Thunderbird seems to get stuck trying to process something. The moving blue bar on the bottom right hand side of Thunderbird shows activity, but never stops. Taskmanager shows that Thunderbird is running, and that something is happening, but I cannot do anything with Thunderbird. I can only shutdown Thunderbird using Taskmanager. I have Norton AV installed, but I have turned it off, and the problem persists. I have removed all the emails from my inbox, and moved them to local files, and the problem persists. I have deleted and recreated my profile, and the problem persists. I have deleted the Thunderbird client and reinstalled it, and the problem persists. It doesn't matter if I select one, or twenty, emails, Thunderbird gets locked whilst processing something, and the problem persists. There is no issue with my Email provider, as I have checked using a webmail client. Emails are being processed and delivered from my email provider, and are received by Thunderbird. I would appreciate any suggestions as to the cause, or more importantly, a possible remedy. I have successfully used Thunderbird for many years, and I actively support them, so I am very keen to resolve this problem. Thank you in anticipation.
選擇的解決方法
I have already tried disabling Norton AV and Norton Firewall ...
If that means you didn't try Windows safe mode, you should give it a shot. It's the only reliable way to turn off anti-virus software.
I have a copy of 142.0.x and I am prepared to try that, if it could be a solution.
I'd advice against downgrading. It's unlikely that the problem is with v146 specifically, and downgrading a profile can cause other problems.
由 christ1 於 修改
所有回覆 (4)
Try to start Windows 11 in safe mode with networking enabled.
Still in Windows safe mode, start Thunderbird in troubleshooting mode. Does the problem go away?
Windows safe mode disables anti-virus software. This is a troubleshooting step, not a solution.
Thanks for your suggestion christ1. I have already tried disabling Norton AV and Norton Firewall, and then restarting Thunderbird in troubleshooting mode, but the problem persists. It seems that Thunderbird is having difficulties when loading messages, as that is the comment on the lower left hand side of the client. It seems that no matter what I do, this issue continues. I did wonder when the 146.0.1 version was released. Could it be a version related problem? I have a copy of 142.0.x and I am prepared to try that, if it could be a solution.
由 petermills2 於 修改
選擇的解決方法
I have already tried disabling Norton AV and Norton Firewall ...
If that means you didn't try Windows safe mode, you should give it a shot. It's the only reliable way to turn off anti-virus software.
I have a copy of 142.0.x and I am prepared to try that, if it could be a solution.
I'd advice against downgrading. It's unlikely that the problem is with v146 specifically, and downgrading a profile can cause other problems.
由 christ1 於 修改
I have already tried disabling Norton AV and Norton Firewall ...
If that means you didn't try Windows safe mode, you should give it a shot. It's the only reliable way to turn off anti-virus software.
That is a very valid point, christ1.
Although I disabled Norton AV and Firewall permantly, I checked Taskmanager, and there were still several Norton processes running in the backgound doing who knows what.
I restarted Windows in safe mode with networking, but WiFi was disabled. I did try Thunderbird, and it all worked as expected. So I removed Norton, which is both easy and only really possible in safemode, restarted in Windows in normal mode, tried Thunderbird, and I'm pleased to report that everything is working properly.
So it appears that Norton was somehow causing Thunderbird to crawl to a stop when processing my emails. What Norton was doing, I shall never know, but now it's gone. I had Norton on my oldish gaming machine, but removed it because of the overhead when running. It might have helped if I had remembered that earlier!
Thank you for your very helpful troubleshooting suggestions, I am very grateful.
Cheers.