Is Thunderbird for me?

jj1984 · 11 Nov 2006, 07:41 PM

Hello all,

I'm going to be formatting and reinstalling my system real soon and was thinking of replacing OE6 with Tbird...

I've downloaded it to have a go, and have some questions that I hope someone can help me with...

- I'm really serious about security, be it locally (someone gaining access to my machine) or email security.
However, I can't seem to find a way in Tbird to prompt for a password each time that the program starts, this is something that can be done in OE...can anyone help?

- I've read that Tbird was vulnerable to some quite serious security issues a while back, is this still the case?

- The Mozilla password manager disturbs me a little...where does it store the passwords, and it appears easily hackable too...Is it a safe way to go?

- One of my accounts gets quite a lot of spam, as I prefer (probably wrongly) to receive html messages for other accounts, however, would it be possible to receive emails from that account in text only, removing all the images and spyware?

Thanks in advance,

Javier · 11 Nov 2006, 07:57 PM

About protecting access to Thunderbird, you can try the extension "Profile Password" (also available for Firefox). You can get it at https://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/...ssword-en.html

You will find a button to be added to your toolbar that, if pressed, will lock your TB while out of your desktop.

About your other concerns, I cannot be more explicit, but I am using TB some years ago and the only worry about it is how it eat every bit of memory you have (you need to reset it every 6-8 hours of normal use, because it stores in memory all the messages you open).

A little relief about this latest problem is to tweak your configuration. Acess Tools | Options and select "Advanced". Then press "Advanced configuration editor" (the button at the end of the dialog box, because I am using the es-ES localized version of TB and I am not sure about the correct label in your version).

After that, you will get a new window, just add this key (right click on any place of the list and select "New", and "Boolean". Give the new key the value "True". Reset your TB.

If everything is done right, every time you minimize TB, it will transfer RAM used to virtual memory, freeing RAM to other uses/apps.

Hope this may be of help to you. If have any problem, please feel free to PM me.

EDIT: BTW, this trick also works for Firefox (in fact, I found it related to Firefox). Some other useful tweaks can be read at Gomeler com site (http://gomeler.com/2006/04/10/firefo...optimizations/)

jj1984 · 11 Nov 2006, 08:34 PM

Hi,

How about storing the profile file on a partition encrypted by truecrypt?

Would this be OK? How would I go about it?

Which files would I need to store on the encrypted drive?

I'm still not sure about the Password Master thing that TB keeps the password in...

Adrian Bell · 11 Nov 2006, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jj1984
I'm really serious about security, be it locally (someone gaining access to my machine) or email security.

Wouldn't it be better to just password protect your whole login with Windows XP?

Quote:

One of my accounts gets quite a lot of spam, as I prefer (probably wrongly) to receive html messages for other accounts, however, would it be possible to receive emails from that account in text only, removing all the images and spyware?

You can set Thunderbird to not display online images. You can additionally set it to display them if the sender is in your address book.

Javier · 12 Nov 2006, 08:42 AM

Also take into account that you can use Thunderbird Portable (available at http://www.portableapps.com), and take it always with you in a USB memory device.

11 Nov 2006, 07:41 PM	#1
jj1984 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 74	Is Thunderbird for me? Hello all, I'm going to be formatting and reinstalling my system real soon and was thinking of replacing OE6 with Tbird... I've downloaded it to have a go, and have some questions that I hope someone can help me with... - I'm really serious about security, be it locally (someone gaining access to my machine) or email security. However, I can't seem to find a way in Tbird to prompt for a password each time that the program starts, this is something that can be done in OE...can anyone help? - I've read that Tbird was vulnerable to some quite serious security issues a while back, is this still the case? - The Mozilla password manager disturbs me a little...where does it store the passwords, and it appears easily hackable too...Is it a safe way to go? - One of my accounts gets quite a lot of spam, as I prefer (probably wrongly) to receive html messages for other accounts, however, would it be possible to receive emails from that account in text only, removing all the images and spyware? Thanks in advance,

11 Nov 2006, 07:57 PM	#2
Javier Master of the @ Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 1,344	About protecting access to Thunderbird, you can try the extension "Profile Password" (also available for Firefox). You can get it at https://nic-nac-project.de/~kaosmos/...ssword-en.html You will find a button to be added to your toolbar that, if pressed, will lock your TB while out of your desktop. About your other concerns, I cannot be more explicit, but I am using TB some years ago and the only worry about it is how it eat every bit of memory you have (you need to reset it every 6-8 hours of normal use, because it stores in memory all the messages you open). A little relief about this latest problem is to tweak your configuration. Acess Tools \| Options and select "Advanced". Then press "Advanced configuration editor" (the button at the end of the dialog box, because I am using the es-ES localized version of TB and I am not sure about the correct label in your version). After that, you will get a new window, just add this key (right click on any place of the list and select "New", and "Boolean". Give the new key the value "True". Reset your TB. If everything is done right, every time you minimize TB, it will transfer RAM used to virtual memory, freeing RAM to other uses/apps. Hope this may be of help to you. If have any problem, please feel free to PM me. EDIT: BTW, this trick also works for Firefox (in fact, I found it related to Firefox). Some other useful tweaks can be read at Gomeler com site (http://gomeler.com/2006/04/10/firefo...optimizations/)

11 Nov 2006, 08:34 PM	#3
jj1984 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 74	Hi, How about storing the profile file on a partition encrypted by truecrypt? Would this be OK? How would I go about it? Which files would I need to store on the encrypted drive? I'm still not sure about the Password Master thing that TB keeps the password in...

12 Nov 2006, 08:42 AM	#5
Javier Master of the @ Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Madrid, Spain Posts: 1,344	Also take into account that you can use Thunderbird Portable (available at http://www.portableapps.com), and take it always with you in a USB memory device.