UI freezes for 2-3 seconds
I have observed the following list of bugs that have been introduced into the prior build and persist into the current build of Thunderbird. The current build that I have is 52.4.0.
1 - The UI freezes for about 2-3 seconds then resumes normal operation. This happens every 30-60 seconds as if some cpu intensive subroutine is running within Thunderbird causing a momentary UI freeze blocking window messages. I see this issue when I am typing a new email, clicking on emails in the inbox to see their contents, and other such actions within Thunderbird. I have to wait for Thunderbird to "unfreeze" many times throughout the day now. This is very irritating. This is NOT something occurring outside Thunderbird affecting Thunderbird. It is occurring within Thunderbird.
2 - Quick Filter Function Not Finding Emails - I always have the "Sender", "Recipients", "Subject", "Body" search options enabled but there are times I know emails exist with my search criteria but they are not found. For example, if I search for all emails containing in the body an IP address like "123.456.789.123", they are not found when I know that there are always several emails that exist that contain the strings I am searching for.
3 - Replies to Emails don't immediately appear in the inbox like before - Up until 2 builds ago, whenever I would reply to an email, the reply would be immediately copied to the inbox. Now, there can be a variable delay of up to 60 seconds or so.
Please advise.
Modified by Wayne Mery
All Replies (8)
1 - The UI freezes for about 2-3 seconds
What is your anti-virus software?
if I search for all emails containing in the body an IP address like "123.456.789.123"
There is no such IP address.
3 - Replies to Emails don't immediately appear in the inbox
Are you saying you always cc yourself on messages you send?
1 - It has nothing to do with any anti-virus software. The problem was observed right after the previous Thunderbird release was installed and persists into this version stated above.
2 - The IP address was an example not to be taken literally. I am not going to disclose the real IP addresses in this venue.
3 - No, I don't cc myself. Thunderbird is configured to copy replies into the inbox.
UserInArizona said
1 - It has nothing to do with any anti-virus software. The problem was observed right after the previous Thunderbird release was installed and persists into this version stated above.
Perhaps surprising, but it is not relevant that you did not see the problem before update. Ref https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues
Start *Windows'* safe mode with networking enabled - win7 https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17419/windows-7-advanced-startup-options-safe-mode#start-computer-safe-mode=windows-7 Still In Windows safe mode, start thunderbird in safe mode - https://support.mozilla.org/kb/safe-mode-thunderbird
Does performance issue go away? (If no, then we move on to other possibilities)
p.s. who is your internet and mail provider?
Thanks Wayne.
1 - Insofar as the freezing UI problem goes, I did find the cause. Just to try to eliminate some things, I followed the Thunderbird article on rebuilding the global database: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database. That worked for me and the freezing UI problem has gone away. I knew the problem was within Thunderbird somehow because I could see CPU utilization spikes within Thunderbird and not any external program. I consider my issue here for this one solved for now.
2 - Regarding your suggestion about the potential anti-virus angle, I read the article and it was very informative. I have used Norton for many years and I use gmail accounts and they are all configured as SSL connections.
3 - I could use some guidance relating to points 2 and 3 of my original post.
point 2
What happens when you search for a 'normal' string, not for an IP address with the dots in between?
point 3
Is possibly related to point 1.
The Quick Search feature seems to have difficulty searching for anything that contains numbers and/or a decimal characters, however regular string patterns such as a normal word works fine. I am usually trying to search within the email body, but I also leave the other Filter Messages options enabled (Sender,Recips,Subject,Body).
For example if I search for 139, I might find some emails that have that string but not all of them. Conversely, the search results contain emails that DIDN'T have 139 in them.
Another example, If I search for 139.60, I get no search results when I know full well there are a dozen or more emails that contain that string.
So, I think the Thunderbird developers need to look at their search methods to see if number strings and number strings containing decimals can be handled more effectively.
As an additional observation, if I use the standard search box instead of the Quick Search function, and I search for 139.60, that function does find all the emails that contain 139.60 BUT in its result set, when it highlights the "searched for" string, the highlighting seems inconsistent and non-contiguous as if the underlying search excluded the decimal character. Furthermore the search function seems to then search for emails that contain 139 or 60 not 139.60
2. That is a limitation of search and nothing new. you will also find it does not locate the text in the "quoted" part of an email, only the "current" part of the body.
I think you will find searching using Ctrl+shift+F a more satisfying result