Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
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Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Hi Guys,
I have seen a lot of similar problems, but none of them exactly like the one I'm having.
Last time I used TB was version 1.x, after a while I just kept on using Gmail online and a couple of months ago I decided to give TB another try. Right now I have a couple of Gmail accounts on IMAP and one Hotmail as POP3, TB 3.6.8 and Windows 7 .
Every time I click on a different folder, close a message, click N, F or B, in fact, change the view, TB (but not the computer) freezes for a few seconds from 1-2 to more than 10 (the screen whitens, as usual when an app stop responding in W7). Sometimes, TB sort of restarts (the icon blinks and moves to the last position on the taskbar) but I do not have to reenter my password.
I use a few extensions, but this was happening before I installed them.
One other issue: Some of the messages I keep on my inbox also have labels (which in the TB corresponds to the folders). When I read them in the inbox folder, they are not marked as read on my all mail or their respective folders, or the other way round - if the message is in more than one folder, it is not marked as read in the others. It is a pain to have to do it manually afterward.
I am considering rolling back to TB 2, as I keep reading complaints everywhere that TB 3 freezes all the time - and apparently this has not been solved yet. I keep it open, but sometimes it's just easier to log in to Gmail and check the messages online... Is it possible to roll back my profile?
Thanks,
Nelson
I have seen a lot of similar problems, but none of them exactly like the one I'm having.
Last time I used TB was version 1.x, after a while I just kept on using Gmail online and a couple of months ago I decided to give TB another try. Right now I have a couple of Gmail accounts on IMAP and one Hotmail as POP3, TB 3.6.8 and Windows 7 .
Every time I click on a different folder, close a message, click N, F or B, in fact, change the view, TB (but not the computer) freezes for a few seconds from 1-2 to more than 10 (the screen whitens, as usual when an app stop responding in W7). Sometimes, TB sort of restarts (the icon blinks and moves to the last position on the taskbar) but I do not have to reenter my password.
I use a few extensions, but this was happening before I installed them.
One other issue: Some of the messages I keep on my inbox also have labels (which in the TB corresponds to the folders). When I read them in the inbox folder, they are not marked as read on my all mail or their respective folders, or the other way round - if the message is in more than one folder, it is not marked as read in the others. It is a pain to have to do it manually afterward.
I am considering rolling back to TB 2, as I keep reading complaints everywhere that TB 3 freezes all the time - and apparently this has not been solved yet. I keep it open, but sometimes it's just easier to log in to Gmail and check the messages online... Is it possible to roll back my profile?
Thanks,
Nelson
- DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
How recently have you compacted your folders? Compacting is something that needs to be done regularly in any email program. We recommend weekly, but many of us do it daily. When done often enough, it can be an extremely fast process. Not doing so can lead to problems like those you are experiencing. See this about how to and why it's so important: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders
If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders. If 'compacting' them (and leaving a long enough time for the process to complete) doesn't fully resolve the problem then do the following on each account:
Close Thunderbird. Find and delete all of the files with the .msf file extension in your profile folder/Mail http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder#Thunderbird including your Local Folders, especially if you are using the global inbox. You must have "View hidden files and folders" on http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=272 and you need to set "hide extensions for known file types" off (just below View Hidden) if you are using Windows. These are your mail summary files and do not hold any messages themselves. They will be rebuilt the next time you open each folder in Thunderbird. Compact all your folders when you have completed this.
To avoid this happening again, see the tips in these articles:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_worki ... derbird%29
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Performance_%28Thunderbird%29
If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders. If 'compacting' them (and leaving a long enough time for the process to complete) doesn't fully resolve the problem then do the following on each account:
Close Thunderbird. Find and delete all of the files with the .msf file extension in your profile folder/Mail http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder#Thunderbird including your Local Folders, especially if you are using the global inbox. You must have "View hidden files and folders" on http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=272 and you need to set "hide extensions for known file types" off (just below View Hidden) if you are using Windows. These are your mail summary files and do not hold any messages themselves. They will be rebuilt the next time you open each folder in Thunderbird. Compact all your folders when you have completed this.
To avoid this happening again, see the tips in these articles:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_worki ... derbird%29
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Performance_%28Thunderbird%29
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Well, errr, hmmm, I have never compacted the folders... Is there a way to set this up automatically? I leave TB open all the time, might as well have it do it every night...
I also backup my profiles weekly, and being IMAP, there's not a huge problem if a I loose just one week of data - BTW, is there any risk in compacting the folders? Or is the backing up just a precaution?
I gather this might fix the freezing issue, what about the "mark messages as read in other folders" problem?
And I just remembered something else (that might also be solved by compacting the folders): TBs message filters (the "quick search", not the e-mail filters). Sometimes I'm staring at the e-mails from a sender in my inbox, but when I do a quick search, more often than not, nothing shows up - even though I've just seen the e-mail there, and the spelling is right, as are the options (sender, body, etc).
I am already compacting my folders, and in a couple of days will find out if it worked.
I also backup my profiles weekly, and being IMAP, there's not a huge problem if a I loose just one week of data - BTW, is there any risk in compacting the folders? Or is the backing up just a precaution?
I gather this might fix the freezing issue, what about the "mark messages as read in other folders" problem?
And I just remembered something else (that might also be solved by compacting the folders): TBs message filters (the "quick search", not the e-mail filters). Sometimes I'm staring at the e-mails from a sender in my inbox, but when I do a quick search, more often than not, nothing shows up - even though I've just seen the e-mail there, and the spelling is right, as are the options (sender, body, etc).
I am already compacting my folders, and in a couple of days will find out if it worked.
- DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Please read through the links I posted to understand what compacting does and how to set it to run automatically.
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Which version of TB do you have?
Try to keep both Trash and Inbox below 100 messages.
Set auto-compacting to 50 kB.
Disable Global Search and Indexer.
Try to keep both Trash and Inbox below 100 messages.
Set auto-compacting to 50 kB.
Disable Global Search and Indexer.
Last edited by Neville on August 22nd, 2010, 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
For most users 20KB is much too low. It will cause Thunderbird to compact folders with almost every 4 or 5 message deletions.
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
It has worked well for me for a long time on several computers - you could try it.
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
20kb is indeed extremely low, especially if your folder is not small. A larger value will achieve the desired effects with less impact to performance. The previously cited http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_fo ... omatically provides good recommendations and information.
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Hi Dan and others.
I'm using the latest TB 3 and update whenever there is a new version. I only have a few add-ons, but as mentioned, these problems were already occurring even before I installed them.
I read that link just after I posted, and had TB set to automatically compress the folders with 100kb. But I am afraid the problems have not stopped. I will try disabling global search.
Inbox and trash have many more than just 100 messages. I must say I let gmail deal with the trash, and never bothered with the inbox having hundreds of messages... Does it make that much of a difference? If so, I'll definitely keep an eye on that.
I'm using the latest TB 3 and update whenever there is a new version. I only have a few add-ons, but as mentioned, these problems were already occurring even before I installed them.
I read that link just after I posted, and had TB set to automatically compress the folders with 100kb. But I am afraid the problems have not stopped. I will try disabling global search.
Inbox and trash have many more than just 100 messages. I must say I let gmail deal with the trash, and never bothered with the inbox having hundreds of messages... Does it make that much of a difference? If so, I'll definitely keep an eye on that.
- DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
nhcotrim, are you accessing Gmail as a POP or IMAP type account?
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
if you have less than 10k messages in Inbox and compact worked, then folder size isn't the only issue, if it is even related at all.
How "many more than just 100" messages do you have?
And how big is your Inbox file per a look in your profile at %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\<something>.default\ImapMail\<account> ?
How "many more than just 100" messages do you have?
And how big is your Inbox file per a look in your profile at %appdata%\Thunderbird\Profiles\<something>.default\ImapMail\<account> ?
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Does the problem exist with all extensions and virus checking disabled?
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
The constant freezing/stalling of TB3.1 (on XPsp3) made the program completely unusable and was very frustrating for several month now.
After working through all the fixes proposed here and on other boards, including rolling back to TB2 and re-installing TB3, the disabling of my Antivirus program (Bitdefender) did the trick !
I excluded my TB-profile folder from the Virus shield and TB works like a charm now.
(>> I never had problems with TB on my Laptop running Win7 and Norton...)
Seems to be a Bitdefender problem - i have the BDtoolbar in TB-AddOns, it's disabled and greyed out, won't uninstall either...
After working through all the fixes proposed here and on other boards, including rolling back to TB2 and re-installing TB3, the disabling of my Antivirus program (Bitdefender) did the trick !
I excluded my TB-profile folder from the Virus shield and TB works like a charm now.
(>> I never had problems with TB on my Laptop running Win7 and Norton...)
Seems to be a Bitdefender problem - i have the BDtoolbar in TB-AddOns, it's disabled and greyed out, won't uninstall either...
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
This is a common problem with several virus checkers. Some specifically advise excluding Thunderbird checks.
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Re: Thunderbird 3 freezing and restarting - and other issues
Doc_Marty, that's great news.
nhcotrim, do you still see your issue when using version 3.1.6?
others, what's the sizes of your largest .msf index files?
nhcotrim, do you still see your issue when using version 3.1.6?
others, what's the sizes of your largest .msf index files?