I've solved the problem by slushing back to version 2.

Yes it's old but:

- it works just fine - has a far superior looking user interface and - only periodically uses under .02% of the CPU.

Any utility program like email that hogs the CPU (25% on idle) either has bugs, huge amounts of debug code or isn't written properly.

In any event I would like to upgrade but these new versions aren't ready for prime-time yet from what I can see.

V2 also does not support modern encryption, goggle yahoo or aol mail and soon to include hotmail/outlook. There are a whole host of other bugs and security flaws that are never going to be fixed. Hundreds if not thousands of them have been discovered and fixed in the 13 years since the product was made redundant. So I would ask you to find another mail client, something that is supported by it's developer and fit for the current times. But as you are using an unsupported operating system I guessing security is not all that important to you.

My wild guess based on basically nothing, because you have provided basically nothing in the way of information is you have an anti virus program working overtime trying to keep the system bug free given the vendor has ceased updates and it was conflicting with Thunderbird. Fairly common, particularly with the market leaders. But that is just a guess based on personal experience.

Well that was generally unhelpful and uninformed, but thanks for the effort.

Without going on a long rant suffice it to say I've probably been programming computer systems - mainframe, mini and micro - longer than most of you have been alive. I am a systems analyst and taught computer sciences for years, so please don't lecture me.

I was part of the design team on Microsoft's AVI tech and spent tons of time at the Redmond campus so I know how they work very well. Over they years I've been using Microsoft product, and this goes back to MS-DOS 1.0, all their operating system updates have been buggy and many of them have caused severe damage to computer systems, which is why IT departments wait until at least the second patch release before moving forward. Microsoft's current "push-out" model is a recipe for disaster I'd rather watch than be part of. And, FWIW, I worked directly with Steve Jobs packaging and launching software for his then-new Macintosh computers, so I think I know a little bit about the computer industry and it's problems.

In the another thread I mentioned I tried upgrading around 2017 when Windows 7 was current and ran into the same problems, which is why I'm still on your version 2, so this isn't an operating system issue. It's an installation problem. As a user I should be able to run the install and the software takes care of the rest. That isn't the case with TB, which is why I'm here.

It is the responsibility of the software vendor to provide product that works. Since I'm upgrading TB to TB the install software should be checking which version it is supposed to be upgrading and act accordingly. TB doesn't do that.

When I've tried "upgrading" TB installs a 64-bit version into the 32-bit directory leaving behind 32-bit DLLs and other code that is probably the real culprit here. It should also provide data migration utilities, which are not present, and should make sure it creates an environment (profile) that allows it to run properly.

At the end of the day TB has a bad installation program that doesn't do what it should.

Back in the days when we had to shrink-wrap software before it went to stores we had to make absolutely sure the software ran or we would be out of business. Since the internet has come along developers have become lazy and are pushing out unfinished and untested product forcing users to go through the pain I and others on this forum are suffering.

As for security, the very first thing my computer science prof said on the first day of class - and this was before introducing himself as the person responsible for IBM's mainframe and mini operating systems for decades - was: Anything digitally made can be digitally unmade.

That means there is no security on the internet. Which is why none of my production equipment is in anyway connected and will remain so. I have one computer I use as an internet terminal for email and such, but that's it.

So far the only program that's caused installation pain is new versions of TB and that's because it's installation routines are incomplete and buggy based on my experience and the feedback I've received so far on this forum.

If you have something constructive to say, I'd appreciate the input. If you just want to make me wrong, kindly keep your comments to yourself as they are unhelpful and reflect poorly on Mozilla.

I have nothing further to say, you have made any support attempt entirely moot by installing unsupported software. Bye

Thanks. I look forward to not reading any more of your posts.

AV is indeed a frequent cause, but there are unfortunately many more possibilities https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems - sometimes it will be Thunderbird, sometimes not

Also, if it's a recent install and your report here is also recent, TB might be still downloading and indexing messages.

To understand what is causing your CPU usage, targeted data is required at the time you are seeing the issue:

• a short description of what you are doing or seeing at the time
• screen shot of tools > activity manager
• screen shot of error console ctrl+shift+J
• a performance profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiling-thunderbird-performance
• Resource Monitor, disk tab, disk section, filenames (not process monitor)

(41 years here in mainframe programming)

Thanks for your input. I'll certainly reference this when I have the time to try again.

I'm pretty confident the issue has to do with TB not properly version checking. That allowed it to "upgrade" the 32-bit version with the 64-bit by installing it into the existing 32-bit directory without cleaning out all the legacy code. I've seen this happen before with other programs with similar results but don't have time at the moment to take another go at it. When I can I'll try a clean install of the 32-bit version which I'm hoping will resolve the issue.

If TB isn't supposed to run on an OS (because it's not supported or whatever) then it should refuse to install. If the installer runs then the program should run - users shouldn't have to deal with this stuff anymore, although it was necessary in the early days. Windows has tons of calls for this sort of thing so it appears to me to be lack of error checking with the installer.

On a scale of 1 to 10 an email agent sits around 2 - just slightly ahead of notepad and calculator. Most of the heavy lifting is provided by the OS so this is far from rocket-science.

TB 64bit is intentionally installed into the "32bit" directory, over top of existing code, for important reasons not relevant the current issue. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of users (I don't have numbers handy) are installed in that manner with no issues as a result.

This is possible because the two different "Program Files" directories are 32bit and 64bit by convention - not by necessity. So there is no harm or foul in installing TB 64bit into \Program Files (x86)\

Thanks. I'm sure it works on most machines, but there is always an outlier that doesn't follow convention and I'd like to eliminate this as a potential issue.

When trouble-shooting always try to start with a clean-slate to avoid legacy issues. To that end I've installed the 32-bit version into a new directory but it doesn't appear to have created a new profile directory and is relying on the old one. I haven't run the program because the issue may be in the old profile.

Is there a way, short of renaming the directories prior to install, to force TB to create a new profile when doing a clean install?

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles

BTW, if you went from version 2 to a newer version and did not use Thunderbird's normal update process, using the same profile, then all bets are off. For example you can't trust the results going from version 2 to version 52 or 91 by installing a download. (And in fact version 2 is much too old for the normal update process to work anyway, because the certificates and old update servers are dead.)

In short, if you want to try version 91 then you should be starting with a new profile.

"In short, if you want to try version 91 then you should be starting with a new profile."

That is exactly what I'm trying to do, sir. Thanks.

I'm able to create a new profile. It's now asking for the profile after a re-start.

PS - you should put a big warning on that profile manager page insisting users backup (on another device) their existing profile folder before proceeding because your profile manager deleted my entire profile folder when I only wanted to remove one of the new entries. Thank goodness I had a backup.

How do I delete a profile entry that's incorrect or no longer in use without clobbering the entire profile directory? You have an option to rename but not remove.

It's stated in that same article at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles#w_starting-the-profile-manager

Starting the Profile Manager
The Profile Manager is not displayed by default. Instead, you must start Thunderbird with a "switch" that makes the Profile Manager appear:

If you are not seeing what is depicted in that article then please post a screen shot.

Thanks -- I edited my original post to say it's now working properly but you might have missed that - I solved the problem by restarting. Now TB properly starts with the switch to enable the dialog box.

My remaining question is - how can you delete a profile entry?

Your nomenclature is confusing as you're using the term "profile" to refer to both the profile directory and the individual profile entries.

According to that screen, clicking "create new" and "rename" apply to profile entries yet the "delete profile" actually deletes the entire profile directory including all profile entries. The first 2 are reversible while the last isn't and is very destructive without a backup.

This is bad form and dangerous for users. Proper UI design requires you to use different terms for the different things to avoid confusion and damage to systems.