try holding the shift key while you start Thunderbird... any better in safe mode?

No, didn't make any difference. I just want thunderbird to accept my decision (my exemption) without all this constant pop-up queries if I'm sure. There must be some way of doing that.

Ok... I had issues a number f years ago with hotmail and shaw sharing servers.

Are they the same certificate for the same servers every time? In my case it was telling me about bay104 next time it would be say bay03 as they had a server farm of servers with messed up certificates

Perhaps the answer for you is to turn of SSL this is an option if the account is POP. Is it? These are the settings shaw recommend for POP.

Server Hostname: pop.shaw.ca Port: 110 SSL: None Authentication: Normal Password

The security is set as: STARTTLS with SSL being an option. Before I try this, will making this change make my emails in secure? What I think should happen is that thunderbird should accept my "exception" - not make my whole email system non secure. Is that not what will happen if I remove all security?

lets look at tghis.

Shaw is so gormless that are apparently incapable of correctly configuring a simple SSL certificate. If that is the standard of their networking prowess then security of your connection to the server is not your worry, it is who else has access to their system.

startTLS encrypts communications between you and the mail server. It does not encrypt your mail when Shaw transfer it to say Yahoo as plain text. All mail travels the internet as text. With a packet sniffer anyone can read the content. So all the STARTTLS does is encrypt your password as it travels within shaws network to the server. For several decades ISPs the world over have told their customers encryption is not needed within their network as there is little risk of sniffing of packets while they remain internal to the ISP network.

Their are only a couple of reasons an exception would not be stored. 1. You have no disk access to the relevant file that contains the certificates, or it is read only from moving it around say on a CD disk. 2. You have security software that cleans out certificate stores "for your security" it might even be deleting them 3. Windows keeps rolling back to a known good state and taking the files back under a shadow copy process.

I'm sure that you know a whole lot more about this situation than I do.

This is a reasonably recent issue that started last summer, probably in July or August, and I have been fighting it ever since. This includes time spent with Shaw.

Guess I should give a more detailed account:

1. I am currently running OSX 10 as my main computer and OSX Lion on my laptop. 2. I have used thunderbird for many years on both computers, but both computers now have the same problem with thunderbird. 3. This leads my to suspect that the problem does not lie within the operating systems, especially as: 4. I started using the OSX Mail program and haven't had the problem with that program, at least, not yet. 5. That being said, to me, it comes down to why doesn't thunderbird accept my exception? 6. I would prefer to use thunderbird, but am prepared to use OSX Mail if this problem can't be fixed. 7. I have not used any "security software" at all, other than what thunderbird has provided in the past. 8. I know Shaw is totally arrogant in matters like this, especially when I'm locked into a 2 year contract. 9. But when all is said and done, thunderbird has a part in it that says that I can make an "exception" to combat this arrogance and it's not working. I would like to get it fixed, if possible. 10. I'm beginning to think that mozilla has a bit of standoffishness, too, when they want it's customers to fix their problem. 11. I truly understand (and am grateful to you) that you are trying to help and I'm not throwing bricks at you. I appreciate any help that I can get. I guess I am just getting a little frustrated. ,