Did you add the account to Thunderbird as POP or IMAP? If IMAP most providers push the messages to Thunderbird whenever there is a new message.

You could try taking Thunderbird offline. In the lower left corner is an icon that looks like 2 monitors. Clicking that icon allows you to change online/offline status.

None of this has to do with being Default. That comes into play when you click a Mail To menu to send something.

Thank you for your reply... I have now taken it off line. I had to go through the folders I have already made and deleted all the messages it had already downloaded and deleted them and then emptied the trash. However it doesn't HOLD as offline. I closed the program up and re-opened and immediately the mail started downloading again... I have tried this 4 times, set it as offline each time, closed, yet it downloaded the mail again each time on re-opening. I need it permanently off-line until I choose to for it to download anything. The account was set up as IMAP when installing.

There is a way to start offline but I do not have Thunderbird in front of me now to find it. What is the issue of Thunderbird getting messages now.

Imap does not remove from the server so your other client still has accesss.

Thanks again... I don't want the messages to download just now until I have finished setting up all the folders and message rules. I guess that the easiest way out would be to let the messages download anyway, and set it up afterwards. As you say, I can still have the messages download in to my Windows Live Mail for now and when Thunderbird is as I want it, then I can make it the default mail handler and not WLM. However, if you don't mind, I would like you to check how to start Thunderbird off line when you are free to do so, I am not in any hurry. It is 2.00 am here in Australia and I need to go to bed... One other thing, when I start Thunderbird I get the attached message. I uncheck "E Mail" and then close it... what does "skip integration" mean? Thanks Win

I found this old thread that describes how to start offline. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1139753

Not sure on the skip integration message. I have not seen that one. I am stuck at the Motor Vehicle office waiting to renew plates so it might be a while before I have Thunderbird in front of me.

Thanks for the link, I was able to set Thunderbird to start off line, but it was downloading the messages already. So I allowed it to finish all 600+ emails, then deleted them and emptied the trash. Then I restarted the program and it looks like it worked, however I still got that message about "skip integration" and don't know what to do about it. Have you been able to find out anything useful? Thanks again for your help. Win

Just so you know, this forum is staffed by volunteer Thunderbird users. I enter "Thunderbird skip integration" into Google and get lots of hits like this one. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1148448 If this one does not help you should try a Google search for yourself and cut out the middle man. The Thunderbird Help search is useless. Google is the way to go.

Thank you for your help. I have stopped the message showing up by going to Tools > Options > Advanced > System integration and unchecking "always check to see if Thunderbird is the default mail client on start up". At least I am not being nagged now, when I start the program. I have another question so I will start a new thread. Thanks again. Win