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drofmor_bill
Former Member
Message 1 of 10

Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Anyone help on a problem I have had for a good 4-5 months now.

Whenever I do a full virus scan it freezes at about 11% whilst scanning one or other of my inboxes on Thunderbird.

If I 'skip' many times until it finishes with thunderbird it will finish, otherwise I cancel and do a quick scan which works fine.

Im not really great on computers so would really appreciate some easy to understand help

1 Solution

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bonnevillerider
Former Member
Message 7 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Please let me know what happened with your efforts.

The presence of a "trojan" greatly surprised me.  This computer is less than 10 days old, and I haven't been frequenting hazardous sites, at least not knowingly.  I have no idea whether the "trojan" is real, or just McAfee responding strangely to something.

I ran three different email accounts through Thunderbird and was only having a problem with one of them -- an account through my ISP.  When I looked at the file where the virus scan freeze was occurring, it was shown as an "inbox" for my email account, and it was taking up over 500mb of space.  None of that made sense.

I deleted everything I could and then used the "compact" command in Thunderbird.  Miraculously, the file became much smaller and the virus scan would run without a hitch, other than finding the "trojan," which McAfee quarantined.  I immediately ran the scan again and nothing was found the second time.

If you also find a "trojan," I wonder whether that was somehow blocking the scan.  If so, McAfee needs to look at that issue. 

View solution in original post

9 Replies
BalaSGS
Former Member
Message 2 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Hi,

Sorry for the delayed response, but do you still face issue with McAfee? If yes, Please clarify

  • How old is the computer? Did we make any recent changes to the system (Software\hardware)?
  • What is the version of Thunderbird you’re running with?
drofmor_bill
Former Member
Message 3 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Hi Bala.

This has been the case for as long as I remember, and it hasnt coincided with any new software/hardware.

I have the latest version of Thunderbird (and it has happened with all updates)

Basically the FULL VIRUS SCAN gets to about 12% or so, then it just doesnt go any further.

The computer can still be used, it doesnt freeze but the virus scan goes no further - and its always in one of my mailbox folders (I have several folders for different accounts).

I always end up stopping the scan and doing a 'quick scan' but would obviously prefer that the full scan was done.

Thanks again

rmetzger
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 4 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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drofmor_bill wrote:

Hi Bala.

This has been the case for as long as I remember, and it hasnt coincided with any new software/hardware.

I have the latest version of Thunderbird (and it has happened with all updates)

Basically the FULL VIRUS SCAN gets to about 12% or so, then it just doesnt go any further.

The computer can still be used, it doesnt freeze but the virus scan goes no further - and its always in one of my mailbox folders (I have several folders for different accounts).

I always end up stopping the scan and doing a 'quick scan' but would obviously prefer that the full scan was done.

Thanks again

Hi Bill,

I have seen this before. I have a couple of ideas that have helped me before.

1) Thunderbird, unlike Outlook Express/Windows Mail, or Outlook, use MIME encoded files for storing all email in a given mailbox folder.

If this folder gets particularly large, it can take a great deal of time to scan every email message and associated attachement, each which must be extracted to a temporary place for actual scanning. Clear the temporary file areas before running the scan.

2) If there are attachements that are in archive form (.zip, .cab, etc.), the extraction time gets even greater, as the scan must recursively (archives within archives) scan the attachements as it extracts the files.

3) Though the MIME format may be still functioning, the size (or the number of email messages) causes the extraction time to increase exponentially, from my experience. Try to break up or reorganize particularly large folders, into smaller sub-folders.

4) Sometimes the MIME format, though functioning, may not be entirely correct. This can cause the extraction of an email to hang the scan while it tries to figure out the problem. Try to Compact All the folders. Often this will rewrite the MIME structure and correct minor issues with structure.

5) Finally, eliminate unneeded messages by deleting email that really isn't needed. Make sure to clear out the Junk folder as well. Then Compact the folders to ensure they have been shrunk to it's minimal size.

Since deleting email may not be (legally) advisable in some cases, I have set up a custom scan on a particular customer's case which scans the MIME files separate from the other scans just to cover this scenario. This scan can take 48 or more hours on this fairly fast system, due to the reasons listed above, but it usually finishes. If needed, I start the scan on Friday night so that by Monday morning, it is complete.

Let us know if any of these things helps.

Good Luck.

Ron Metzger

Message was edited by: rmetzger (grammar) on 12/11/09 12:12:30 PM GMT-05:00

on 12/11/09 12:16:52 PM GMT-05:00
Thanks,
Ron Metzger

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bonnevillerider
Former Member
Message 5 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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I was having the same problem with a new computer.  I needed an email program and downloaded Thunderbird.  A full virus scan consistently froze on the inbox for one of my email accounts.

I checked and had an inexplicably huge "inbox" file, even after deleting most of the emails.  I tried the compacting routine suggested by Ron, and suddenly my "inbox" file was relatively small -- about 2% of its former size.  A full scan just quickly completed and revealed a trojan.

Now, I suppose the question is whether it was real trojan.  This is a brand new computer that came with McAfee installed, and there have been no alerts as to an incoming trojan.

Anyway, thank you, Ron.

Message was edited by: bonnevillerider on 1/22/10 4:59:28 PM CST
drofmor_bill
Former Member
Message 6 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Thank you for the helpful advice.

I had tried deleting as many emails as possible, (but had not tried compacting the folders) and was still freezing at about 11%.

Glad to know im not the only one with the problem, so will now compact the folders and post back the results.

Thank you

bonnevillerider
Former Member
Message 7 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Please let me know what happened with your efforts.

The presence of a "trojan" greatly surprised me.  This computer is less than 10 days old, and I haven't been frequenting hazardous sites, at least not knowingly.  I have no idea whether the "trojan" is real, or just McAfee responding strangely to something.

I ran three different email accounts through Thunderbird and was only having a problem with one of them -- an account through my ISP.  When I looked at the file where the virus scan freeze was occurring, it was shown as an "inbox" for my email account, and it was taking up over 500mb of space.  None of that made sense.

I deleted everything I could and then used the "compact" command in Thunderbird.  Miraculously, the file became much smaller and the virus scan would run without a hitch, other than finding the "trojan," which McAfee quarantined.  I immediately ran the scan again and nothing was found the second time.

If you also find a "trojan," I wonder whether that was somehow blocking the scan.  If so, McAfee needs to look at that issue. 

drofmor_bill
Former Member
Message 8 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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Thank you very much.

For the first time in an absolute age, I now have a full virus scan instead of freezing at 11%.

Great help - Thank you again

Rookie
Former Member
Message 9 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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I too am having the same problem (mine hangs at 12%)....

However, I can't create "Sub Folders" to move stuff around (guess I have a newer version of T-Bird).

Don't want to delete items (as I'm on an IMAP connection). So any suggestions (other than compacting?).

Thanks,

R.

Djennings
Former Member
Message 10 of 10

Re: Full virus scan freezes scanning thunderbird

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It's too bad that this certainly seems to be a problem with the Full Scan and if McAfee is suggesting that it is the "Other Vendors Problem" and are not willing to address the issue across the board then I will not be renewing my subscription or purchasing any of their products. I always liked McAfee but will no longer support their Poor Support or lack of developments concern. I am glad to hear that they read these posts and hopefully they will see this one and decide to make a change in the way they handle problems such as this.

Yes, my PC does the same thing as everyone else's and I should not have to go into my pc and reconfigure anything in regards to settings, disable restore functions just to get their software to work. Guess I will have to start Using Norton as much as I despise their software or better yet, continue to use Spy No More, as their full scan does not lock up, freeze the PC or cause me to perform a hard boot.

Thank you,

DJennings

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