How old was the 32-bit version? If it was something like 2 or 3, a direct update to 91 is probably not going to completely work. See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1360098

Thanks for the response. The 32-bit version was very old - 2013 IIRC.

I tried your suggestion in the referenced thread - "delete or rename key4.db, logins.json and cert9.db" - but can't find the logins.json file in the Profiles folder so this hasn't worked.

Where should the logins.json file be located?

The funny thing about the "lost" Contacts is the abook.mab file is 1200 kb and when I look at the contents in notepad the names appear to be in there but TB isn't displaying them in the Address Book.

I found a version of logins.json file in my Firefox profiles but nothing in TB.

No pkcs11.txt file to delete either as per this:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Password_not_remembered_-_Thunderbird

So the 2 files that need to be deleted so TB creates new ones don't exist in the first place. This should mean that TB creates them automatically as it should be the same situation as if they were deleted, but that isn't happening.

Can I ask what TB is doing when it should be idle?

I'm looking at it in Process Explorer and it's using up 15 to 25% of the CPU time when it should be doing nothing but periodically polling for new mail.

This causes my machine to overhead and shut-down, which is unacceptable, especially for something as simple as an email program.

There is no logins.json because that file was introduced in a newer version to replace the obsolete signons.sqlite. So, deleting key4.db, logins.json and cert9.db only applies to current versions of TB.

The fact is, going from a very old version to 91 usually fails, because 91 isn't capable of translating the obsolete files. As mentioned in the other topic, you're probably better off creating a new profile in 91 and transferring data from the old profile to the new. As for abook.mab, copy it to another folder such as Documents, then try to import it from Tools/Import...Address Books...Mork database (*.mab)...select abook.mab.

You may find that CPU usage is much lower and normal with the new profile.

Thanks for your response. And I do appreciate what you folks are doing.

I would posit the current version's inability to properly migrate older versions has to do with the fact that there are no routines written for the new program to do that. So this is a decision taken by Mozilla and has nothing to do with the program itself. Write the code and the import will work.

I've been migrating my email since the 1980s so asking me to rebuild 40 or so years of messages and contacts would probably take more time than I have years left, so I'll pass. Life is too short and that's what utility programs are supposed to do.

I've also noticed the CPU problem with the new version of Firefox (and Chrome but Chrome isn't as bad) which seems to have to do with the multi-threaded capabilities in the newer operating systems. There's no reason for an email program to be running multiple threads. But if it needs to run multiple tasks simultaneously, those tasks - editing and displaying text and polling for new messages - are not of the sort that demand 25% of the CPU while running, yet alone while idling. That's just silly.

Since this is a new release you probably still have huge amounts of debug code embedded, which also causes problems beyond the boat.

With all due respect, I highly doubt an incorrect profile would cause the CPU to run constantly, and if it does, then there is something wrong with the program design.

Unfortunately programmers have the latest, greatest and super-fastest machines so unless managed properly they write their code so it exploits every possible nook and cranny available. Good programming practice, and I taught this in computer science for years, should focus on the end-users needs and not the programmers wants. I think that message has gotten lost along the line.

The original appeal of Thunderbird and Firefox was they were well written, super fast with low CPU overhead, like Version 2. These new versions are the epitome of bloat-ware.

And I must add, the user interface on this new version is just plain ugly and cumbersome compared with Version 2. So many of the functions that you can do with a click of a button no longer have buttons to click - like something as basic as deleting an email. That forces users to right-click, which is awkward at best by comparison. And the clunky screen design is just bad - it's monochromatic, hard to read with nothing appealing about it at all.

Guess I'm stick to 2 since this upgrade, even if I get my contacts and stored passwords back, will be unusable due to the inefficient way it has been written with the high CPU overhead.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Some brief comments:

- you don't have to rebuild your message store - it can be copied from the old profile - my TB sits idle using .1% CPU - TB runs fine here on a 15 year old W10 PC with 4GB RAM - check CPU usage in a new profile, not an obsolete one - colors for the icons and every other element can be set with add-ons or scripts - buttons for Delete and other functions are easily added to the toolbars

I'm running a Win 7 machine with 1.5 GHz 4-core 64-bit cpu and 6 gig or ram, which should be more than enough to run an email agent.

Is there a way to install multiple instances of TB?

All your install does is "upgrade" into the 32 bit directory, which may mean it's trying to run some old DLLs that may also be causing the problems.

Users shouldn't have to deal with this sort of stuff. Remember the whole concept of "plug and play"? What happened to that?

I have so far wasted most of today with this. If I can find a way to do a clean install, which your install script doesn't provide, without clobbering what I have, which is mission critical, I may take another go but this is just a giant waste of time. Plus the more I futz with things the higher the likelihood of something accidentally wiping out my email entirely. I barely survived Windows 3.11 and don't want a repeat of that disaster.

As far as the UI goes - you did it right the first time, why change it to make it ugly? Why strip the program down to look like a garbage dumpster and force your users to go through the pain and effort of dealing with add-ins?

Software development should be about solving user needs, not creating user problems.

Don't know what 'install script' you're referring to. The link in my first reply explains how to create a new profile. If you want to have TB 2 and TB 91 on the same PC, install each one in a separate folder and run each version in separate profiles. Don't run TB at the end of installation, but start Profile Manager by opening a Run window (Winkey+R) and type <path to TB 91>/thunderbird.exe -p

Create a new profile and add the accounts.

Thanks.

Your install program/script/whatever [that I downloaded today} doesn't provide an option for anything other than upgrading the existing version.

I tried this back in 2017 with similarly dismal results but still have the install for your version 7 IIRC.

I see you also have a 32-bit version of this latest release.

I've been trying to install the latest release on a machine with 32-bit version 2 so there is the difference in versions and the difference in bit-size going on here.

Would it make any difference to do either:

- install the 32-bit version of the 9 over 2

or

- install the 64-bit version of 7 over 2 then upgrade 7 to 9?

To avoid confusion, just stick to the 32-bit version. There is no significant performance gain with 64-bit TB.

I repeat: install different versions of TB in different folders if you wish to run multiple versions, and run each version in its own profile.

All releases are here: https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/

sfhowes - thanks for the informative and kind responses. You've been most helpful.