not responding when replying/composing windows 10

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amead
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Joined: April 27th, 2017, 7:34 am

not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

I transferred my Thunderbird "profile" (my email, etc.) to my windows 10 laptop a couple months ago (using MozBackup) and everything works great except that each time I compose or reply to an email on the laptop, TB freezes for a few dozen seconds (I timed it twice, once was 39 seconds, then 23 seconds). The reply window opens with the "from" address but it's frozen. If I'm replying, the "subject" line is correct but the "to" address is blank and the message pane is blank. When it starts responding again, sometimes the main TB window becomes active (maybe because of where I was clicking when it was not responding?). While frozen, the window title is "write: (no subject)" when it's frozen, which changes to "write: (no subject) (not responding)". The TB main window is also frozen when this occurs.

When it begins responding again, it works perfectly normally. I don't use my laptop a lot but when I do, it's a real hassle to have TB freeze for ~30 seconds each time I send an email.

I'm using TB 45.8.0.
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DanRaisch
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by DanRaisch »

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.
amead
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Joined: April 27th, 2017, 7:34 am

Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

The account is IMAP.

Also, I updated to the latest 52.0.1 (32-bit) and the behavior is unchanged. And, I restarted TB in safe mode and the behavior is the same.
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DanRaisch
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by DanRaisch »

OK, with that IMAP account, is the provider Hotmail/Outlook?
What is selected as the target for storing Draft and Sent messages as defined under menu path Tools->Account Settings->Copies & Folders?
What security software is running on the system?
amead
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

The provider is Pair.com. The "Copies & Folders" settings are:

"When sending messages...":
"Place a copy in" is checked and "Sent folder" on my IMAP account is set
nothing else in this block is checked

"Message Archives":
"Keep message archives in" is checked and set to "Archives folder" on my IMAP account

"Drafts and Templates":
Keep draft messages in is set to the Drafts folder on my IMAP account
Keep draft templates in is set to the Templates folder on my IMAP account
The "Show confirmation dialog..." is not checked

The laptop is running Windows Defender with whatever default firewall win 10 uses
amead
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Joined: April 27th, 2017, 7:34 am

Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

(Bump).

This issue is unchanged now several weeks have passed. I'm running 52.2.1 (32-bit). I just did a fresh re-install and it's still happening exactly as before.

I cannot believe I'm the only one experiencing this... Although, if I didn't use TB on other OS's, I'd have uninstalled and forgotten about TB by now...

Windows Defender is a bit more complex (or so it seems to me) in Windows 10 but I believe I have turned off all protections and the problem seems unaffected.
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DanRaisch
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by DanRaisch »

Sorry, missed your previous reply.

Do you access the system from multiple computers or from just the laptop?
If you don't need to access the account from multiple systems, try pointing the system to folders on the local system rather than on the IMAP server. Some provider's servers can be slow to respond to uploads of Drafts, Sent, etc. messages, resulting in lagging in Thunderbird.
amead
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

I think I solved it by disabling the Windows Search service with these steps:

1. Press the Windows key and then the "R" key (this brings up a command window)
2. Paste "services.msc" (without the quotes) into the "Open:" field and press OK
3. Find Windows Search (they were alphabetical for me)
4. Double click on Windows Search
5. Click "Stop" to stop the service
6. Change the "startup type" to "Manual" or "Disabled"

Here are some things that didn't help:

1. Starting TB in safe mode
2. Trying to tell Windows Search not to index c:\Users (but maybe that's because I have no idea what I'm doing)
3. Going offline
4. Turning off any of the myriad protections in Windows Defender
amead
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

Actually, I was wrong. This is not solved. Maybe it occurs intermittently, but it's pretty often. Also, when I am replying repeatedly to the same message (which really only occurred when I was testing this), it only occurs on the first time. Subsequently it's snappy.

@DanRaisch, I need to access this account from different devices. But this Windows 10 device is distinctly different from my old Windows 7 laptop, my Windows 7 desktop, my Fedora devices, etc. I've used TB for years and this laptop with Windows 10 is really bad. As I said above, if I weren't experienced with TB. I'd assume it was too slow.

I'm contemplating wiping the local files and re-installing TB from scratch and allowing TB to re-download my folders. I've never migrated previously...
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by wsmwk »

> Here are some things that didn't help:

You did not list "starting Windows in safe mode". Does that mean you did not test it?
amead
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by amead »

Ok, this IS SOLVED but I'm not sure which of three things might have helped: (1) I rebooted repeatedly to try to enter safe mode (surely not a cure, in itself); (2) I uninstalled TB and reinstalled it (previously, I had merely installed the latest version or allowed TB to update itself); or (3) I found that Windows Search was still starting when the service was set to "Manual" and I changed it to "Disabled."

I assume #3 (or #3 plus #1) is the most likely the solution. It would explain why I thought it was solved (because I disabled the service) but then it wasn't (because "Manual" wasn't sufficiently disabled). But maybe there was some value in performing an uninstall before the install.

It's true that I never used Windows safe mode because I couldn't get my ACER Aspire to pause. Either I was hitting the wrong key or not doing so quickly enough.

Thanks for your help!
wsmwk
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Re: not responding when replying/composing windows 10

Post by wsmwk »

amead wrote:It's true that I never used Windows safe mode because I couldn't get my ACER Aspire to pause. Either I was hitting the wrong key or not doing so quickly enough.

Thanks for your help!
Life can be a bitch with Windows 10. Safe mode is more complicated - there is no F8 to interrupt startup. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/hel ... -safe-mode But safe mode is ALWAYS a good first step.

I read somewhere, but have not verified, that windows indexing is disabled in safe mode, until you reboot normal.
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