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could a virus prevent thunderbird from opening?

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  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

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When I opened Thunderbird today it downloaded messages but I could not see the messages because the screen was stuck on a date earlier in august. I tried to scroll to the top of the screen to see the incoming messages, but that didn't work. I also could not close the program, it was not responding to the cursor. Then I tried to force close it with ctrl-alt-delete and I could not fix the cursor on the line 'Thunderbird'. This line was constantly shifting. I closed all the other programs and shut down the computer. When I turned the computer on a few hours later, Thunderbird refuses to open. All other programs open normally. Could it be a virus? Also, when I tried to do a threat scan with Mc Afee, I did not receive the normal window but something about a folder and 'nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn' as if it was filling out itself. Please help.

When I opened Thunderbird today it downloaded messages but I could not see the messages because the screen was stuck on a date earlier in august. I tried to scroll to the top of the screen to see the incoming messages, but that didn't work. I also could not close the program, it was not responding to the cursor. Then I tried to force close it with ctrl-alt-delete and I could not fix the cursor on the line 'Thunderbird'. This line was constantly shifting. I closed all the other programs and shut down the computer. When I turned the computer on a few hours later, Thunderbird refuses to open. All other programs open normally. Could it be a virus? Also, when I tried to do a threat scan with Mc Afee, I did not receive the normal window but something about a folder and 'nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn' as if it was filling out itself. Please help.

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McAfee is the cause of long term failure in Thunderbird. It ranks No. 6 on our crash reports as the cause and has caused all sorts of issues over a number of years. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#McAfee

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I am working with McAfee to get more information to fix a crash issue related to McAfee. If you still have McAfee installed, and you crashed (not just script timed out) we could really use your help.