Ok, here are steps:

1. click to account settings
2. highlight the usa.net account
3. slightly below in same column is 'Account Actions' menu, click that
4. now click the 'remove account' option. you will then see a screen with option to delete data, Do that. That causes account folders to be deleted. Since this is IMAP, they will be recreated when you recreate the account. Local Folders are not affected.
5. close and restart thunderbird
6. click help>troubleshootinginformation. that screen shows a matrix of accounts, titled 'Mail and News Accounts'. Usa.net should NOT be on list. This is just a confirmation
7. now, click hamburger menu in upper left and click 'create account'

I am getting ready to start your instructions but I don't see the hamburger menu or create account in step 7. Sorry, this may be due to my lack of experience.

Sorry, that term is used often for the little icon in upper right that consist of three short stacked lines.

Ugg. I followed your steps 1-6 twice. Here's what happened both times. After step 4, click remove account, the usa.net line and folders disappear from the left column. When I close Thunderbird and restart it, the usa.net line reappears along with the folder, "Inbox" (which is empty) and I get the same old window that wants my password. I click cancel to get rid of that window twice, because it appears a second time. Then when I go to help>troubleshooting info, "imap.postoffice.net:993" is still listed as an account under Mail and new accounts. So I have not bothered to create a new account per your step 7. Good grief.

On step 4, did you tick the box to remove data? that needs to be done to ensure folders are removed. I would also ckeck settings>privacy&security to verify that passwords are gone. I have never seen this for a usa.net account.

Yes, I checked the box and as I said earlier at the end of step 4, usa.net is no longer showing in the left column, just my local folders and my yahoo.com email account. I looked at the passwords and only yahoo shows up. So I am sure I have done as you instructed.

The only thing I want to be sure I don't lose at this point is my local folders. Do you think I could start a new Thunderbird account using my usa.net email and then move the local folders into the new account and just abandon this account and close it?

You can safely remove the usa.net account and then create another one. The Local Folders are separate and not affected.

Thanks for hanging in there with me through this process.

I can't seem to fully remove the usa.net account. So my question is do you think I could start a new Thunderbird account using the same usa.net email and then move the local folders into the new account, and then close the usa.net account I have right now so I only end up with one Thunderbird account?

Ok, fully removing the account would be best, as other options might be somewhat technical. 1 - one option is to create a new profile (easy) and then copy Local Folders to it (requires the importexport addon) 2 - another option is to use windows file explorer to copy Local folders elsewhere and then completely remove thunderbird and reinstall and then copy Local folders back in.

Which approach is more appealing? Let me know, and I'll give detail steps

Hi. I'm back. I have copied my local folders into my yahoo.com email account. I can't find how to remove (close or eliminate) my Thunderbird account. Once I delete my Thunderbird account I think I can figure out how to open a new one and bring my yahoo email account back in and recreate the local folders.

Ok, please clarify status. You have a Yahoo account (in Thunderbird, I presume), and you want to remove a 'Thunderbird account.' Please be specific, as I don't want to give instructions that delete desired content. Thanks.

I have my usa.net email account and my yahoo.com email account in my Thunderbird account. The usa.net account is the one that has been the problem (password problem and updating of files). The yahoo.com email account works fine in Thunderbird. I have copied the contents of my local folders to my yahoo.com email account so that I would be sure not to lose them in the process of removing (deleting) my current Thunderbird account and opening a new one. Isn't this what we discussed? I hope that opening a new Thunderbird account will clear up the password problem. With the new Thunderbird account I would use my usa.net email account and then add my yahoo.com email account and open new local folders. Then copy back to the local folders the contents that I copied to my yahoo.com email account. Does that make sense?

You confuse me with the term 'thunderbird account.' I first suggest trying to salvage existing thunderbird installation. To do that, here are suggested steps:

1. remove the usanet account, including data
2. check at settings>privacy&security that the entries are gone
3. create the usanet account again and see if password works. If it does, I think all is done. That is, the Yahoo account is already there.

See if that approach works before doing something more involved.

OK. I removed the usa.net account. When I try to create the usa.net account again I get a message in account setup that says (in a yellow bar) "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account". Incoming server: Protocol = IMAP Hostname = .usa.net Port = blank Connection security = None Authentication method = Autodetect Username = my usa.net email address (should this show the user name I use to access my usa.net email account instead of my usa.net email address? This line prefilled with the email address.)

Outgoing server: Hostname = .usa.net (this line also prefilled...should it just be usa.net instead of .usa.net?) Port = blank Connection security = None Authentication method = Autodetect Username = same as for Incoming server

Haven't we been here before?

Also, in Account settings, when I select Outgoing Server (STMP) Settings, I can see two lines, one is xxxxxx.usa.net - smtp.postoffice.net (Default) and the other is Yahoo! Mail - smtp.mail.yahoo.com. Does this mean I have not fully deleted the usa.net account? I can only edit the first line. Remove is not a choice. Should I make the yahoo.com line the default. Perhaps then I could select remove for the usa.net line?

yes, you cannot delete the default account, so make Yahoo the default and then remove whatever remains of usa.net

yes, we've been here before. Thunderbird does not know the server names so you must manuall configure it. imap.postoffice.net port 993, SSL/TLS for incoming and smtp.postoffice.net port 587 and STARTTLS for outgoing

In Account settings>Outgoing Server (STMP) Settings I changed the default to yahoo.com and deleted usa.net. Then in account settings I made these entries: Incoming server: Protocol = IMAP Hostname = imap.postoffice.net Port = 993 Connection security = SSL/TLS Authentication method = Normal password Username = john.fn@usa.net

Outgoing server: Hostname = smtp.postoffice.net Port = 587 Connection security = STARTTLS Authentication method = Normal password Username = john.fn@usa.net

We may be getting somewhere. Now I get a green bar with the message "(checkmark) The following settings were found by probing the given server:" But then when I click "done" I get the yellow bar with "Unable to log in at server. Probably wrong configuration, username or password".

What username and password should I be using here? My username and password that I use to login to my usa.net account? I am using the password that I use to login to my usa.net email account but the username I have shown above for the incoming and outgoing servers is prefilling with the full email address, not the username I use to sign in to my email account.

could you please post a screenshot of what you see when you get the error? Thanks

First I get the screen with the green bar, then when I click done, I get the screen with the yellow bar.