I’ve also been having difficulty installing additional accounts in TB, mostly with accounts served by Xfinity/Comcast. Any insights would be welcome. While that’s simmering, I’ll dive into checking versions and updates.
Most of the times this is due to weird settings each weird provider expects. I doubt Thunderbird knows those settings by default, so you probably need to set up the account entirely manually by providing the SMTP server address and all related information manually.
The needed information should be provided by each provider, but some do not care enough about their customers, which is why it’s sometimes hard to find the necessary information.
There’s a new check box in the Security section of the Xfinity email support page that allows or prevents access from a third-party client such as Thunderbird. That’s probably the solution. But it brings up this question: how safe is Thunderbird?
Does not bring up the question at all! The providers try to make it seem like “third-party apps” are evil and inherently insecure.
Thunderbird is a very famous open source product that is decades old. Therefore, it is as secure as a consumer e-mail client can get.
That said, the question you wrongly assume is raised becomes even more ironic when looking at the context…
You are using some shady company’s e-mail provider and ask if the e-mail client is safe.
That’s like asking if the German Porsche is safe because you want to transport North Korean bombs with it, that probably are as high quality and secure as a 140p JPG that you got from Mr. Robot.
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True, TB has been around for a long time and I can’t remember any breach complaints. But I don’t believe Comcast/Xfinity can truly be characterized as ‘shady.’ It controls at least half of the Internet provider market in the US; it’s my only provider–monopolies are hideous but they’re a fact of life. I appreciate your endorsement of Thunderbird. Here’s maybe a more pertinent question: Is it safer to employ an email client (included in nearly every distro) or to only operate in the web presence of the email server?
You literally just answered your own question. Verizon, Comcast, and others are basically the sons of whores in the Tech World. At least you are getting something from Google and Microshit, while Verizon, etc. are literally just stealing your money for almost no service. Especially Comcast is absolutely infamous for its HORRENDOUS service. For what the responsible CEOs do at those companies, they should be actually buried alive and that still would be too mild.
I’ve been using Comcast for twenty years, Akito, with flawless service. If there were a competitor in my area, I would make the comparison, but there’s only Frontier, the successor to Verizon and it’s as shady as you say. I have great sympathy for those who have problems, but my experiences just haven’t been anything but successful. Your vigorous outrage must come from bitter personal experience.
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I wonder whether it is a good idea to use your internet service provider’s (ISP) email service at all. I never did so, because I change ISPs every couple of years (e.g. t-online, Tiscali, British Telecom, Swisscom, Zuger Wasserwerke, Sunrise, Salt).
However, web interfaces are pretty safe nowadays, though I still value the higher level of control, a dedicated client program provides.
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I could go on and on and on, forever…
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I really envy you, Mina, to have such a variety of ISP’s available. We have a few communities who operate municipal networks as a utility service, like water or electricity, but they’re few and far between. I agree with the higher level of control and have been very happy with Protonmail.
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I must live in the luckiest corner of the country to have never encountered such awful service. One tactic that I’ve found productive is to call for technical or sales support after 9 pm local; that’s when the more reasonable folks like to work at Comcast. Broadband should be a utility, not a for-profit business. The same can be said for medical care, too. Information access, like healthcare, is a right, not a commodity.
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You’re a commie! 
Agree a 100%. Some extremely important things in this world of the future shouldn’t be a part of speculation, but a human right!
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I’ll assume you’re teasing, Mina.
Hi @Akito. I do manually set up each inbox in TB but for some reason the info did not appear (all except the first one I did first) and as I just informed another member, I just exited from TB and went back again soon after and the second email address was there. Still puzled but it is working so I will not try to work out why it happened…
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I thought, it was obvious…
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To me, it was. 
Apologies. Andy 2, while ultimately ignorable, has seemed to make me a little paranoid.
Maybe the only thing worse than Comcast is Verizon?
It’s definitely possible.
It’s probably a tie. Btw, what’s GDPR? I just skimmed the video and everything seemed to be German.