Why does Thunderbird not work with Windows 8.1
I have used thunderbird now for about 6 years, for all my website accounts. During that time I have had very few problems, about 9 months ago I started using Windows 8, I transferred all my accounts from my old machines running on XP pro to new machines running Win 8 and thunderbird ran ok. I have auto updates running so I am assuming both thunderbird and windows are updating whenever! About 4 weeks ago I started experiencing major problems with Thunderbird, it would start then freeze, then it would start again then freeze, if I ran it in safe mode it would work for a while. Now it opens and freezes, the message at the top just says ' Thunderbird is not responding'. Even in safe mode now it will not work! I have tried uninstalling and re-installing, I have even tried installing an earlier version of Thunderbird, I Have deleted the profile and forced it to produce a new one, I have spent hours trawling different sites trying to find an answer, and you know what, the only conclusion I could come to was, nobody seems to care whether this problem is solved or not, so reluctantly I have had to give up and I moved all my accounts to Outlook, which works perfectly with Windows 8.1. I think that should have been the answer, right from the start of the problem!
All Replies (6)
I don't think it's a problem with Win 8 and TB, but possibly with an AV program like McAfee that has updated recently and caused several of the kinds of freezing issues you describe. Try running in Windows safe mode with networking and see if there's any change.
I am running Mcafee, I have just turned the firewall off and started Thunderbird in safe mode, Froze immediately!! I had tried this before but nothings changed!!
The recommendation for McAfee is given here:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#McAfee
Turning off the firewall and running TB in safe mode won't make any difference. You have to disable email scanning; running in Windows safe mode disables programs that automatically run at Windows startup, like AV programs.
The point is, it shouldn't matter if you're using McAffee or Norton or not using any anti-virus at all. Thunderbird works on XP. Thunderbird works on Vista. Thunderbird works on 7. But despite what the FAQ says, Thunderbird does _NOT_ work on Windows 8. This is a problem that many people are having and Mozilla _OUGHT_ to be able to fix it.
I hate to bitch because Thunderbird is free and it's a damned good program. But this damned good program that worked through three earlier iterations of MicroSoft operating systems is unusable on 8.1. Anybody who has any knowledge of user experience can tell you that a program becoming unresponsive at random for anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes is simply not acceptable.
This problem has been known for quite some time now. Is anybody in Mozilla support even looking at it?
I have same problem - Windows 8.1 64bit. I tried everythin what I found about this problem. Turn off AV software, TB safe mode, Win safe mode, recreate TB index etc. But nothing help. :( I am really disapointing but I have to use Outlook, because in this state TB is useless. I wolud like have info if there will be some solutions about this problem.
Modified by karol.krasnan
I am also having this problem. Thunderbird has worked poorly ever since I "upgraded" to Windows 8. It got worse when I got 8.1.
I have another thread asking for for help with this and Mozilla support is not coming through for me there, either.
MOZILLA! PLEASE HELP! THUNDERBIRD'S WIN8.1 PROBLEMS ARE ENDANGERING MY JOB!
Thank you.