7.1 Lockups on Downloading E-Mails with Large Attachments

Netscape 7.1 has been locking up after downloading e-mails with large attachments (of at least 500 kb or more). The only way out has been to use Control-Alt-Delete and close the "not responding" program. After I restart the program, I find that the "offending" message has indeed been downloaded, with attachment intact, but has not been deleted from the server -- so Netscape tries to download it again, after clicking on Get Messages, with the same lockup results. I have to go into the email server using webmail and delete the message manually in order to get around this block. It looks as though Netscape locks up before transmitting a "download complete" signal. This happens both at home and at the office, so I don't think it is a corrupt program. It happened when I was using MCI (UUNet) as my mail server and is continuing to happen now that I have switched to Earthlink. I am using Windows 98 in both computers. Is this a known problem with Netscape 7.1? Any suggestions what to do?

PLS

P.S. There are times when Netscape becomes temporarily unresponsive during message downloads, but becomes responsive again after a few moments and continues. I haven't correlated this behavior with message/attachment size (there may be a correlation); but the "permanent" lockups have only happened with the large attachments I've described.

 

PLS,

Try this, if you already haven't:

Edit | Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings | Disk Space
Check the box that says "Do not store messages locally that are larger than..." You can set it for whatever size attachment is too large.

Hope this helps!

Ramona

 

Attachments

Ramona --

The problem with that solution would be that I wouldn't be able to download messages with large attachments that I actually need. Any ideas why Netscape 7.1 would be behaving this way? And ways to get it to stop locking up? It seems to me that the behavior is not "appropriate" -- I wouldn't expect that this sort of locking up would be an intended or desirable feature of an e-mail program. ??

PLS

 

PLS,

My thinking was, that if you set the option to a size larger than the attachments that lock up your PC, this might allow the download.

Is your Inbox large in size? If so, create a subfolder to archive older mail, and keep the Inbox fairly small.

Does deleting your msf mail files have any effect on the lockups?

Ramona

 

Disk Space Option Trial

Hi Ramona --

I've set the disk space option for downloads to 10 MB, as per your suggestion. I'll let you know what happens.

Ever since the "label loss" problems settled in, I empty my inbox routinely to an archive file. So that's not a contributing factor.

Are you suggesting that I delete the Inbox msf file, or others as well? I can certainly try doing the former, but the latter would delete all label information.

PLS

 

Hi PLS,

Oh heck no! After all the hard work we've done, I certainly wouldn't want to lose those labels. But if you want to try just the Inbox, then yes, I would try deleting the Inbox.msf file. Also compact your folders, as that too may help. I'm sure that you do routine maintenance on a regular basis:
Delete Cache Folder
Delete XUL.mfl file
Delete history.dat file

Ramona

 

Question

Ramona --

Thanks for the additional thoughts.

I think I will wait to see if the "disk space" option change makes a difference, and then try other measures if necessary (to try to understand which, if any, contributes to a solution).

I do compact any active folders regularly (those from which messages have been deleted or moved). I have not made a practice of deleting the Cache folder or the XUL.mfl and history.dat files. Is it generally a good idea to do so? And, if so, why? Also, what does the XUL.mfl file do?

PLS

 

Hi PLS,

On the XUL.mfl file:

It's a cache for the user interface, JavaScript, and it speeds things up. It's often recommended for deletion, because it's a cache, and deleting it won't harm your info. Like deleting MSF files, or clearing your browser cache.

It contains XUL+JS+CSS from the skin that's been "precompiled" into bytecode or something similar, to reduce skin loading times. The "fl" stands for "fastload ". It also contains data from the precompiled chrome.

See this site for more info on Netscape/Mozilla Preferences files:
Files in your Mozilla profile directory

Deleting the Cache Folder and the history.dat file keeps Netscape/Mozilla running more efficiently. As the folder/file size accummulates, it slows down the browsing process. Frequent clearing of these folders/files speeds up that process.

Because I am a heavy user, I delete the Cache folder, history.dat and XUL.mfl files on a daily basis.

Ramona

 

Hi Ramona

I use "PrefBar ", one of my button selections is "Clear All ", which clears the following ... " History, Location Bar, Disk Cache, and Memory Cache.
Question.. Does "History button" = your file name "history.dat "?

I would like to ADD another button on my PrefBar.. "XUL Cache "...with the following decsription "This toggles XUL cache. Leave this alone if you are not a XUL developer testing a XUL application.. "
Question.. Does "XUL Cache check box" = your file name "XUL.mfl "?

Thanks

 

Hi Dennis,

The Help Page states that Prefbar deletes the "Global" History. The history.dat file is indeed the "Global History ".

The caution does make me wonder. I did note this entry on the Help Page:
Clear Mem Cache
Type: Button
Default Status: Hidden

This clears mozilla's memory cache, except for XUL chrome items.

I think the only way, other than asking the author of Prefbar, is to note the size of the XUL.mfl file before and after using Mozilla.

If I find any information which more clearly states whether or not it clears the XUL.mfl file, I'll let you know.

Ramona

 

Thank you very much Ramona.
Will sit tight and wait for your A ok before enabling "XUL Cache" PerfBar option.

 

For the Unenlightened

Ramona --

Interesting to read your exchange with Dennis . . .

For the less informed, please tell me this:

1. Do you delete the mentioned files with Netscape open or closed?

2. Do you (yourself) go to the relevant folders and do the deletions by hand, or do you use one or more menu options within Netscape?

3. What is PrefBar, and is it something someone with less experience can use?

Thanks!

PLS

 

Hi PLS,

You can delete Cache in Edit | Preferences | Advanced | Cache

If you're doing it through Windows Explorer, then Netscape should be closed.

I have a batch file which deletes all three files. Previous to the batch file, I deleted the three files manually, in Windows Explorer.

Prefbar is like an extension, it's an xpi file. It can be installed here:
http://prefbar.mozdev.org/

It cannot be uninstalled, so read all the FAQ carefully, before you make a decision.

Personally, I use as few addons, extensions, third party applications as possible. However, other users have very favorable comments about the extensions and addons. Strictly a personal preference. I imagine Dennis can give you a better reference for Prefbar.

Ramona

 

Lockups

Thanks, Ramona --

I may run some experiments on the large-attachment lockup situation. If so (and/or when the natural course of things provides additional information), I'll let you know.

PLS

 

Nothing Works

Ramona --

I tried everything you suggested, but nothing works. I sent myself a message with a 1 MB attachment (that I had received from someone else, after much effort). No matter what I do (limiting the download size to 10 MB, deleting the Inbox.msf file. clearing the cache, clearing the history, or deleting the XUL.mfl file), Netscape 7.1 still locks up when I pull the message down. After using Control-Alt-Delete to close the non-responding program and reopening Netscape, the message plus attachment do appears in the Inbox, but remains on the server (unless I go to the Earthlink server directly via Webmail and delete the message).

So what do you think? I could send the same message to you and see if you have the same problem -- ?? Note: I'm using Windows 98; I can't recall if you've said what you use. One way or another, that test could provide some additional information. If you're willing to send me your e-mail address via PM, I'll respect its privacy. If not, that's fine -- perhaps we can think of another way to proceed.

PLS

 

PLS,

Awaiting the attachment...

I wonder if you have tried disabling your AntiVirus email protection, to see if that might be the problem? Also try disabling your Firewall.

As you have experienced the same problem when using two separate ISP's, then we must assume that the Mail Server is not the culprit.

Ramona