Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

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martinlest
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Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Sun Oct 10, 2021 5:14 am

Hi. Could anyone kindly help me with this?

When I open MW, it invariably hangs within a few seconds. Clicking on any part of it will show 'Not responding' and I have to force the window shut from the toolbar.

If I then reopen MW, it works fine, but once closed down again (or minimized to the tray), the same thing will happen later at the next mail check.

If I bring up the 'error digest', it's empty. Is there a log file I can attach that would help? None seems to have a modified file date at any time near the error...

Using Windows 10 Home (21H1) x64

Thank you.
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Tue Oct 12, 2021 3:06 pm

Hi there

Try first going into Help >> About >> open the link to where MailWasher stores the data files >> go back and close MailWasher so it's not running >> back in the folder you just opened go into the Training folder >> delete the file TrainingMA.dat >> restart MailWasher.

MailWasher will rebuild this file when opened, and hopefully correct the issue. If problems persist, let me know.

Cheers
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 13, 2021 3:44 am

Hello. Perhaps early days, but I haven't had the issue since following your instructions above. Thank you.
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:49 pm

I am afraid this problem has started again - am I going to have to keep deleting the said file? This is a new problem... I have had MW for many years without encountering this before.
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 13, 2021 8:54 pm

Let's try getting a log file and see if that hints at might what be going on. Unfortunately the system for getting this is a little tedious...

If you go Help >> About >> click the option to Enable Extended Logging >> then wait for the next time the problem happens, or if you can force it to happen do so >> then restart MailWasher after the problem >> go Help >> About >> open the link to where the data files are stored and there should be a file called MailWasherPro_debug.txt >> if you can email me that file to forum@firetrust.com

Cheers
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:01 pm

Will do... thank you.
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:18 am

I don't think the log is going to help... MW freezes up as soon as it starts and nothing is recorded in the log file: I just encountered the problem this morning.. MW says it is checking accounts but nothing more happens. Eventually I have to close the programme via the task bar.. none of the buttons on the GUI works, you just get a rotating circle. The log only shows entries from yesterday, nothing at all from today. Actions are only logged when MW works normally.
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Mon Oct 18, 2021 1:44 am

OK, try then renaming the whole training folder.
Help >> About >> open the link to where MailWasher stores the data files >> go back and close MailWasher so it's not running >> back in the folder you just opened rename the Training folder to something like TrainingOLD >> restart MailWasher >> this will mean having to retrain which emails are considered good/bad, just something to be wary of.

Cheers
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:14 am

OK, I'll rename the folder (so that I can return to it if needs be), see how I get on and report back after a few days..

Many thanks for the support.
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Mon Oct 18, 2021 11:31 pm

I'm afraid that didn't help. Booted up this morning and started MW.. still hangs. No log entry again :-(
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Tue Oct 19, 2021 7:05 pm

OK sure thing.

So we'll put the training back, and at the same time look at the Recycle Bin file.

Help >> About >> open the link to where MailWasher stores the data files >> go back and close MailWasher so it's not running >> back in the folder you just opened delete the newly created Training folder and rename the TrainingOLD back to just Training >> rename the file Trash.rot135 to something like OLDTrash.rot135 >> restart MailWasher.

If that's still no good, I would try running a System File Scan, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/top ... 6e85d4094e

You could also uninstall MailWasher, be sure to keep your data files when prompted and reinstall http://cdn.firetrust.com/downloads/mail ... -Setup.exe

Cheers
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:33 am

Looks like I will have to reinstall MW, though I only did that a few weeks back (after upgrading hardware on my PC).

Or... just live with it: I wrote a vbs script that closes mailwasher.exe and immediately reopens another (usually working) instance. Just takes a couple of seconds.

Be good to know why the programme suddenly has this problem though, after all these years. (I have always had the issue in fact, but just occasionally, not regularly, as now).
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:55 am

Sadly we don't do any real logging about the opening of the program, so we can't see what tasks it might be doing before the hang.
Typically the reading in of the Recycle Bin, Training, Friends List, Blacklist and Filters is about all.

Does opening the program as Administrator produce the same issue ?

The blacklist.txt in the data folder, can you tell how many lines that file is. In the past we had performance issues when it was above 32,000.
martinlest
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:18 am

Thanks for the quick reply.

"Does opening the program as Administrator produce the same issue ?"

Will try that...

The backlist file is about 300 lines long..
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rusticdog
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Re: Mailwasher Pro 6.5.4 continually hanging/crashing

Wed Oct 20, 2021 11:36 am

Sounds like you are handy around your machine, so you could also install SysInternals from the MS Store
ms-windows-store://pdp/?productid=9P7KNL5RWT25
(forum won't link address above, but can paste into browser)

In preparation I would uncheck the logging option in MailWasher under Help >> About >> and also set it not to check for messages on startup.

Fire up Process Monitor once SysInternals is installed >> click Filter >> Filter >> create a filter where Process Is mailwasher.exe
Start MailWasher and hopefully it stalls and that might tell you where it may be coming from.

There will be a truckload of events and many you can exclude, I would ignore for example anything Registry related. To exclude a type of event, right click on the entry under the Operation column and select 'Exclude xxxxxx '

If you don't like what you are looking at, you can click the Save icon in Process Monitor >> give the file a save location >> it will be large however will compress well into a ZIP. Fell free to ZIP and email me that to forum@firetrust.com and also let me know roughly what time you started MW when it stalled.

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