I have a Dell desktop computer, with Windows 10 and Firefox.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

I woke up my Dell this morning, and clicked on the Mozilla Thunderbird icon to check my email.

It did not respond at all. I can access my address book in there, but that's it.

And since it's Sunday, I cannot call my IT guy. And tomorrow I'm going for my second Moderna vaccine, and god knows how I'll be feeling after that!

I do have a Dell laptop, also Win 10 and I can access my email there, but I want it on my desktop!

Any suggestions you might have would be great.

Thanks!

[Just_Vote_Dem]

1. Did you try uninstalling

then reinstalling Thunderbird?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Actually, no, I didn't. That sort of thing scares me!

I may work up my courage to do so.

Thanks!

[Just_Vote_Dem]

5. You're welcome! I do it as a last resort at times

cause it scares me too! Good luck

[PSPS]

2. "I woke up my Dell this morning"

That may be the problem. Do an actual restart of the computer, not a hibernate/sleep thing.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. OK, I'll do that. Thank you! n/t

[TwilightZone]

6. Second that.

I lot of issues like that are cleared up by a reboot. Alternately, you could shut down completely and restart.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Shutting it down and then starting it up again worked! THANK YOU! ♥

[Just_Vote_Dem]

8. Nice! Glad you didn't have to reinstall n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Me too! I am very happy! n/t

[Earthshine2]

12. Exactly! I tell people do two cold-start reboots before you call me.

So many problems just go away.

[WA-03 Democrat]

13. Agree!

This and check the cables solves about 80% of the issues.

[Brush Bunny]

10. Your Laptop might have did a update

via Dell.. Have had that happen. Had to open Microsoft and then jumped on Firefox and closed down Microsoft.

Dell seems to prefer Microsoft, which is a built in system. And any updates from dell or friggin Bing seem to try and block Firefox.

[MojoWrkn]

11. Shut down your desktop at night and restart in the morning. Secondly, buy a HP next time!

I also have a dell and it's a piece of junk! Live and learn I guess.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. I agree that shutting it down at night and restarting it in the AM will work.

As far as buying an HP is concerned, well, so far the Dell has worked very well.* And my IT guy recommended it.



*With today's problem the only exception!

[LPBBEAR]

14. additional info

Firefox and Thunderbird save all of your settings, emails, bookmarks, contact lists etc. in hidden folders in both Windows and Linux (if you use Linux). If you make copies of those folders you have basically backed up all of your important data. If you totally hose either one while trying to "fix" one or the other you can simply copy your backups to the original locations and your data will be restored. This is far superior to Microsoft Outlooks ridiculous and kludgy export/import routine.

To find your Firefox and Thunderbird data in Windows you have to enable your hidden files and folders. (Google that if you do not know how)

Once you have enabled hidden files and folders look in C:usersyourusernameAppData

In that folder you will see 3 other folders. "Roaming, Local, LocalLow". In those folders you will find the data folders for Firefox and Thunderbird. Copy them to another location keeping them separate so you can copy them back to the same location later.

For instance create a folder called backups and then create in that folder folders named LocalLow, Local, and Roaming. If you have to reinstall either program do the installation of the program but do NOT start the application after install. Put your copies of the originals in the appropriate folders. After you have copied the data folders back start Firefox or Thunderbird. Your data should be restored.

An additional factoid. You can actually move your data from Windows to Linux or vice versa. The data works in both operating systems. I would assume this works for Mac but I do not have one to test with.
In Linux the data is also in a hidden folder called .thunderbird for Thunderbird and .mozilla for Firefox. Some older versions may use .firefox for Firefox. Note the . signifies a hidden folder.

The file path in Linux is:
/Home/Username/.thunderbird
or
/Home/Username/.firefox

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Thank you so much for this additional info! It looks complicated, but probably isn't.

I appreciate your help.

[LPBBEAR]

18. Not as hard as it might sound

Here is how to show hidden files and folders in Windows 10. Give a try. Once you've done it look for the AppData folder in your user folder. Open it and you will see the folders I mentioned earlier.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/view-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-10-97fbc472-c603-9d90-91d0-1166d1d9f4b5

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. I will check it out, and thank you again!

[multigraincracker]

15. Works great for my phone.

Anything goes wrong, I power off and re start.