731910 - Slow message display of non-Inbox folder when getting new mail

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[John David Galt]

When starting TB, and again every few minutes when it retrieves incomeing mail, it takes unacceptably long for the message I'm trying to read to appear, or to respond to scroll keys.  Often, I have to repeatedly invoke Task Manager via Ctrl-Alt-Del to get any response from TB.  This should never be necessary.  Message retrieval ought to be a background task (meaning it always yields priority to commands that display or scroll a message on the screen).

Comment 1

[David :Bienvenu]

We do prioritize message retrieval - it's just that we have to wait for the current header download to finish before we can retrieve the message.

Comment 2

[:aceman]

John, did you mean you want to display some existing message in the folder, not one that is downloading? What is your protocol (POP/IMAP) to the server?

Comment 3

[John David Galt]

Usually when it happens I'm not even viewing the Inbox (since I expect that to be busy during downloads) but one of the many other folders I've created under Local Folders to save earlier messages.  I use POP protocol these days (the ISP also supports IMAP, but it requires more traffic to/from the server during reading, which I'd rather avoid).

I do have filter rules that move messages to all those other folders, but in my experience they aren't executed until everything is downloaded to Inbox first, so comment 1 can't explain the delays I'm seeing unless the system is naively assuming that a download always means access to any folder must wait.

Comment 4

[John David Galt]

Re. comment 2 -- Yes, that's what I mean.  I want my commands to display existing messages to work immediately.  Comment 1 seems to be assuming that I've asked for the current behavior instead of its opposite.

Comment 5

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Let's restate the summary by describing "the problem" rather than a presumed solution.

John, does this reproduce in *windows* safe mode, with compact disabled?

Comment 6

[John David Galt]

Starting Windows in safe mode, or even "Safe mode with networking", causes my broadband to be disabled, so the test cannot be performed.

Comment 7

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

is pop account set to global inbox?
is there only one account defined in this profile? (no chat, RSS, news, etc)
are options set to Allow AV to quarantine under Security | AV?
what antivirus do you run?

Comment 8

[John David Galt]

Yes, pop is set to global inbox.
There are multiple accounts, but only one mail: one RSS and two news.  (One of the news accounts is news.mozilla.org, which hasn't worked for a year or two but that's another bug, already filed.)
Yes, AV option is on.  I use AVG Internet Security.

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

please try version 21 beta from http://www.mozilla.org/thunderbird/channel/

Comment 10

[John David Galt]

Swamped at work.  I promise a substantive reply not later than Thurs 18 April.

Comment 11

[John David Galt]

I've installed the beta version, and it seems somewhat faster, but I can't really say the problem is cured because I didn't get enough mail today that the problem would arise.  Will follow up further.

Comment 12

[John David Galt]

The beta version seems to have sped things up for folders in a different account (Blogs).  But viewing another folder under Local Folders is still slow.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

> Starting Windows in safe mode, or even "Safe mode with networking", causes my broadband to be disabled,

This sounds odd to me. Does your broadband require special, non-MS software?


> Often, I have to repeatedly invoke Task Manager via Ctrl-Alt-Del to get any response from TB.  This should never be necessary.  

This makes me think the problem is not caused by Thunderbird.

If you can't run in safe mode, please totally disable AVG and report results.

Comment 14

[John David Galt]

The broadband is from AT&T and uses a driver they provide.

Running with AVG disabled would be unsafe and I can't see that the result would be any different.

Comment 15

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to John David Galt from comment #14)
> Running with AVG disabled would be unsafe and I can't see that the result
> would be any different.

regardless, it is the next logical step. And the symptoms you describe are typical to what we see with antivirus software.  https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_messaging/topics/thunderbird_so_slow_now is an example

Comment 16

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

without a test of AVG disabled, or test in safe mode, or AVG set explicitly set to exclude Thunderbird profile directory, it's not possible to proceed further.