Receiving new emails without secure connection

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S3ndG
Posts: 42
Joined: February 7th, 2013, 10:21 am
Location: France, west coast

Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by S3ndG »

Hi!
I have configured TB to receive my emails from an IMAP account without any kind of secure connection (no SSL or stuff like that).
Yet, Thunderbird try to establish a "secure connection" when I launch the software, and there is an error message : "the server has been disconnected. It may stopped itself, or there is a network problem." (or something like that my software is in french).
How can I tell to TB not to establish a secure connection?

Thanks so much =D>
sfhowes
Posts: 749
Joined: April 1st, 2012, 10:21 am

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by sfhowes »

I think that whether or not you want to receive mail over an insecure connection, a questionable approach, the fact is that most mail providers impose security requirements that must be entered in TB in order to receive or send mail. It appears that is indeed the case, based on the error message. Who is the mail provider?
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DanRaisch
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Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by DanRaisch »

Further to what sfhowes stated, server settings in Thunderbird are not really a matter of user choice but must match what the provider requires to permit a valid connection to their servers. If the provider requires connection security, choosing a valid option from the drop down under Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Connection Security is necessary to eliminate error messages such as you describe.
S3ndG
Posts: 42
Joined: February 7th, 2013, 10:21 am
Location: France, west coast

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by S3ndG »

The mail provider is the french ISP named Free. This provider does not require connection security, in fact there is a port (143) for non-SSL connection and a port (993) for SSL connection.
If i choose the port 993, I still have the error message sometimes.
It seems to be a TB bug or provider server problem...
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by tanstaafl »

SSL is connection security. It temporarily encrypts the contents of the tcp-ip connection between the email client and the mail server. Its a good idea to use it as the alternative sends your password in the clear over the Internet. In practice, SSL has been replaced by TLS (or StartTLS) due to the poodle attack, though web sites frequently don't update their documentation accordingly.

Configure connection security in the accounts server settings to "SSL/TLS" on port 993. See http://settings.email/free.fr-email-settings.html and http://settings.email/thunderbird_configuration.html

If you get a occasional error error message see if http://kb.mozillazine.org/SSL_Security_Error helps. Your ISP might be having a problem with its SSL certificates. Usually something like that is fixed in a couple of days by the admin. Errors such as the server had disconnected or there is a network problem sounds like a unreliable connection due to your ISP. Next time it occurs please post the complete error text. I suggest you run a speed test such as http://beta.speedtest.net/ to see if you get the advertised speeds.
S3ndG
Posts: 42
Joined: February 7th, 2013, 10:21 am
Location: France, west coast

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by S3ndG »

I'm using Kaspersky anti-virus 2018. Must I add the kaspersky certificate to Thunderbird in order to avoid errors like those ones? Is my connection analyzed by KAV while receiving and sending emails without the certificate? For now, it is not imported in TB and I don't have any error messages...
thank you! :)
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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: Receiving new emails without secure connection

Post by tanstaafl »

I don't know enough about Kaspersky to answer that. However, I would assume that if you are missing a root certificate for Kaspersky the error would occur all the time.
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