Trouble with my gmail account and google secure apps

[rbt0424]

Hi, I can now only access my Gmail account on Thunderbird if Google secure apps is off. I never had this problem before but up until today I am having trouble getting into my Gmail account using Thunderbird.However, this morning as I tried getting into my account, access was denied and I was asked to provide a new password. I tried doing this but each time a message came back that it was unacceptable. In the end the only solution I found was to go in to my Google account and turn off secure apps or more exactly swich to allow unsecure apps. As soon as I did this I can access my gmail account again OK but it does beg the question why does Google NOW think that the Thunderbird computer program to be insecure. I am running version 52.5.2 (32 bit) which shows as being up todate. I am confuse why I have the 32 bit version as my windows 7 is 64 bit? I am worried about continuing with secure apps switched off. Is there a different solution which would provide access with secure apps on?

[tanstaafl]

There is no problem running a 32 bit executable on a 64 bit windows operating system. The reason a 64 bit build for Thunderbird isn't available is it provides little benefit and they are still working on build problems with it. I've used the experimental 64 bit daily builds for a while and didn't notice any difference in performance, but ran into several bugs the 32 bit builds didn't have. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/64_bit_builds

Google's claim about Thunderbird not being a secure app is basically marketing to encourage people to use their webmail , their app and to promote OAuth. See the less secure apps section in http://kb.mozillazine.org/Gmail for more information. I have no idea why you suddenly ran into a problem since you've been using Gmail for a good while but can't help but wonder if the google less secure app settings were changed for some unknown reason.

If you are still worried about relying upon the less secure app setting use OAuth in the accounts authentication settings instead of "normal password".

[UserMaster]

Google/gmail calls apps that don't support OAuth2 "less secure". But, that doesn't make them insecure.
So what it means is gmail's meaning of LessSecureApp is basically anything that doesn’t use OAuth2.

In thunderbird, gmail Imap mail accounts can connect using OAuth2 instead of SSL/TLS.

When you initially logon with OAuth2, you will be redirect to Google’s sign-in page,. Once you have signed in, Google issues you a special OAuth2 token which is saved in Thunderbird and can be seen in the same place as passwords. So when you next logon to gmail, it is using that unique OAuth ID instead of password.

Let me know if you need more help. I also found this tutorial gmail sign up that should be able to help in case you have more questions.

[rbt0424]

Thank you very much Tanstaafl and usermaster. solved!