Hasn't anyone noticed that the progress bar you know the little blue bar that goes from left to right when checking for emails and or downloading them inside the status bar has been broken since I'm guessing version 18? It's as it were out of bound.
Image of the issue.
http://imagesup.net/?di=12140253615516
edit:
A wile back I gave a fresh version a go and to my surprise the problem was gone, so updated again after that but the problem is back in versions 38.2.0 and up.
So to be clear the last version that does not have this problem is 38.1.0 which can be found here.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Thunderbird...
(can't really recommend this version as it threw away all messages too often on hotmail/outlook (IMAP) accounts when having connection problems + even more annoyingly it didn't always display the correct content for some mails, you'd get partially loaded old messages over-layed on new ones » back to 17 to many issues with the latest version)
Visit the Community page
Join our forums
Subscribe to our email newsletter
Subscribe with RSS
Follow us on BlueSky
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Mastodon
On Windows modern themes, there is no progress bar there unless it's being used and it does show up properly. It may just not be tested on Windows classic anymore.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
That may be but it doesn't fix the problem. I've tried looking for an older version but couldn't really find anything more than a really old version (2.0.0.6). I really don't need the latest version, any ideas? Can I somehow use an old version of the non portable Thunderbird?
Older versions of email clients and browsers shouldn't be used. They have security vulnerabilities. It's not worth the risk, especially for such a minor issue.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Yes that seems to be the mantra these days about software updates and I get it towards noobs who manage to do the most stupid things sometimes to get all sorts of malware infections.
But I'm not exactly a noob, have been playing around with computers for over 20y now. And I can assure you the the risks of using older software are greatly exaggerated. So please leave it up to me if I want to use an older version. I'll take that responsibility (as if I weren't already responsible to begin with).
So if you could point me to an older version like 17 or 18 I would still appreciate it.
Of course an update to fix to issue would be preferred.
I've been programming for even longer. But I'd never use an outdated email client or browser for production use (aka everyday use). It doesn't matter how careful you are because other people get hacked. Asking someone to use a current browser/email client is not a judgement of their computing abilities or the types of websites they visit. And the automated toolkits to exploit insecure/outdated software are much more powerful and significantly easier to use than they used to be.
Often it's not even the people you're visiting (or getting mail from) that get hacked, it's the people they work with. So, your favorite search engine, portal, music site, etc is just fine, but the ad network or analytics network or social sharing button network they use gets hacked one day and starts distributing malware. Auto-install/drive-by malware that works its way in via a Java, JS, Flash, PDF or other bug. You have no idea it happened. You didn't visit any bad sites. But you're infected just the same.
You can download older versions of Thunderbird Portable here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Thunderbir...
There are significant vulnerabilities in earlier versions and these vulnerabilities all now have exploit code out in the wild:
http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/thunderbird.html
Note that every single release is fixing at least one 'Critical' issue, meaning: "Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing." While your vulnerability profile is significantly reduced in an email client as opposed to a browser, it's still a significant risk. And, honestly, it doesn't make much sense to assume that risk just because a progress bar is shifter 100px to the left.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for the old versions link.
Well I'm now mostly interested in 17.0.10. Which does not appear at all in the list you pointed me to. That version probably has fewer possibilities to exploit than the latest one.
"it's still a significant risk"
That's what you always hear but when you start calculating the actual risks we get into the 0.0xxxx percentiles if not even smaller not even looking at the precise harmfulness of that possible malicious act.
Let me give you an example. Lets say that I use the same version of this email client once a day for a year and I get 1 single infection in that year. The chance of that happening would be only 0.27%. Now in reality I've never gotten an infection trough my email client in fact the only infections I've gotten over at least the past 10 years were of stuff that I knew beforehand to be risky.
I'm willing to take that risk to get rid of something that annoys me quite a lot as it doesn't seem to get fixed any time soon.
17.0.10 was part of ESR and is branded as such (which will mean it does not show up alphabetically like the others). The original Thunderbird ESR was abandoned when Thunderbird itself began to follow the ESR version releases of Firefox, as it is now. 17.0.10 now has quite a few unpatched critical vulnerabilities.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
"quite a few unpatched critical vulnerabilities"
Could you be exact as version 17.0.8 only has two (the latest 24.6 has 3), one of which that has been in nearly each and every version. So should I even count that one? This is also the only one being mentioned as also being in version "(... rv:17.0.10)".
Doubtful 0.0.2 versions later there would be more unpatched critical vulnerabilities than as it were 2 minutes earlier.
I'm smelling exaggeration.
There were critical security issues fixed in 24.1.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, 24.5, 24.6. Most of those are present in 17.0.10.
It doesn't really matter how long a critical vulnerability has been present and unexploited. When it is fixed, the details of the vulnerability are immediately widespread as part of the patch. At that point, it's added to the automatic exploit utilities as the full details are available for all. The logistics of this change a bit in a 0day, of course, as the details of the vulnerability are released before the patch, making it an even worse situation.
Either way, as soon as security issue in an app is patched and the vulnerability details are published and widespread, you don't want to be running the old version of that app anymore.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
"There were critical security issues fixed in 24.1.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4, 24.5, 24.6. Most of those are present in 17.0.10."
How do you know, it doesn't say that anywhere.
And even if, anyone wanting to exploit them would have the same problem of not being able to exactly find out what vulnerabilities to exploit at it's unclear what vulnerabilities persist in older versions. Yes you could run some tests on version x but why that specific version? There are a lot of variables to consider.
An other aspect is why would anyone want to try and exploit these old vulnerabilities. There isn't much to gain exploiting them on those systems that run older versions.
Again another aspect of the actual risk which is exaggerated time and time again.
Bottom line unless you know any other way to fix the issue this debate whether to use an older version or not is useless. As it is the only solution to the problem as of jet.
Look at the list right here: http://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/thunderbird.html
Everything highlighted in red is "Critical: Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing."
Automated attack tools are designed to exploit vulnerabilities in most popular browsers and email clients. They target vulnerabilities from years ago for people who never updated. They don't care what browser or email client you use as that's irrelevant (other than providing them easy access if you use an outdated version). They care about being able to install malware into Windows via your browser or email client.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
17.0.11 fixed MFSA 2013-103 so there's one "Critical" ("Vulnerability can be used to run attacker code and install software, requiring no user interaction beyond normal browsing.") vulnerability in 17.0.10.
Also attackers don't have to know what versions are vulnerable to what vulnerabilities, they simply know that there are versions with x vulnerability, and they probe anyone they can with the exploit. The ones that it doesn't work on are obviously not vulnerable to it, and the ones that it does work on are. So … people who want to exploit them do not "have the same problem of not being able to exactly find out what vulnerabilities to exploit at it's unclear what vulnerabilities persist in older versions", 'cause (as John said) "They don't care".
~3D1T0R
Is it possible this issue is caused by an extension?
I've run into a lot of graphical issues with Firefox & Thunderbird over the years that were fixed by either getting rid of a buggy extension, resetting the settings of an extension, or re-installing (uninstall, then install again) an extension.
Occasionally I've had extension-caused issues which could only be fixed by digging through about:config and manually changing something.
This is the first time I've heard of the specific issue you're having, have you tried running a fresh install with a fresh profile?
Then you can try building up your environment to your liking till you see what specific change is causing it.
~3D1T0R
I'm not using any extensions in TB unless you consider dictionaries as extensions but I don't see how that could screw this thing up... Confirmed not to be the cause.
Any useful keywords I could look for in about:config? I wouldn't know where to start regarding this issue.
I've also done a complete fresh install. No changes made really just set-up the accounts. Btw now that I think about is I recently did a move to portable for someone and I think the regular version does not have this issue as I remember that pc not having had the issue before but now also has it.
Thunderbird Portable contains an unmodified copy of Thunderbird within it so bugs of this nature generally exist in both. It could be a bug in a recent release.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I'll try the regular version to see if it presents the same issue.
Well it did.
Must have been a move + updat action then.
I've the same thing here. What I'm not sure about is why it bothers you.
I have sticky blue bits on both the left and right of the moving bit when TB downloads stuff. I don't pay it much attention.
I also have 17 TB extensions none of which are appearance orientated.
Perhaps you need to have a theme *not* to see this.
Either way it doesn't seem to affect TB functionality and if it is there in the non-PA version interest fast loosing forum this. Or something.
Wm
Well I started out not being bothered by it that much but as the issue persisted it started to bother me more and more.
The proverbial bucket overflowed recently when I moved a friends hotmail account to use outlooks newly implemented imap function.
This required me to create a new account in TB and this certain person had over 7000 emails inside. And only the download of all the headers takes a long time, so you don't want to wait for that to complete. Now it turned out to be really unclear what TB was doing exactly at any given point in the process. This usually isn't very clear to begin with but with that bar being all over the map it got even harder to decipher. Making an issue that arose moving certain folders to be even more of a pain than needed to be.
Fact stuff: I did a bit of googling looking for a way to reproduce this and ADBLOCK type add-ons came up a lot. Do you have one of those on your TB ?
Maybe you should go weird, accept the demon within and add an add-on designed for people like you (if only temporarily for 7k swearword e-mails from MS telling your friend ... you know).
That way you get to watch your bandwith and diskspace.
Wm
I found a bug report on Mozilla's BugZilla instance that looks similar.
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1006658
Is this the same issue? if so you should let them know you're experiencing it too, they will likely be more able to help you than we are.
~3D1T0R
That indeed looks like the same bug. And, as expected, it's tied to the Windows 'Classic' theme (aka Windows 95/NT4 theme). I'd wager they just didn't test under it with the redesigned UI, but enough bug reports will probably help a couple developers get to it.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Yup, same left and right blue bits, I had a look at ED's link.
I'm not sure it is a bug so much as a progress indicator someone forgot about. It shows something is happening so I don't mind it.
what is considered a minimal theme (I thought I didn't have one at all) in the hopefully already minimalist PA community.
as far as I know I don't have a theme at all beyond Tools / Add-ons / Appearance / Default 24.6.0 i.e. the one that matches my TB version number.
It appears everyone has got a theme. Yay for themes, let us paper the cracks
Wm
I meant it was due to your selected theme within Windows, not within Thunderbird. Windows Classic is the (very) old Windows 9x-style Windows theme. As opposed to the modern Windows Vista/7 (aka Aero), Windows 8, or Windows Basic themes. Or even the now-discontinued Windows XP-style theme. This bug only shows up if you use the Windows Classic look within Windows. It likely hadn't been found previously in Thunderbird - and likely doesn't have much demand behind fixing it - due to the fact that so few people are using this older style Windows look.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for clarifying that John and ED. I just tried another Win theme for a minute or so and see what you mean.
Apols for wrong end of stickedness.
Wm
Yes, it's a bug.
Also in this case we're not talking about Thunderbird Themes at all, but rather the "Windows Classic Theme" which is one of several "themes" built into Windows, others (on Windows 7) being "Aero", "Basic" and a few "High Contrast" themes.
That progress bar isn't doing what it's intended to do (indicate a percentage of progress by percentage of coloured section in the bar) thus it's a bug, the reason it happens is because nobody thought to check it, or if they did they thought it minor enough that they forgot to report it prior to being released, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still technically a malfunction, a.k.a. a bug.
~3D1T0R
A wile back I gave a fresh version a go and to my surprise the problem was gone, so updated again after that but the problem is back in versions 38.2.0 and up.
So to be clear the last version that does not have this problem is 38.1.0 which can be found here.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/portableapps/files/Mozilla%20Thunderbird...
edit 2017-11-21
The current version also works well in this regard. To be precise version 52.4.0 is ok.