POP Peeper terminates

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DennyM
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

I have POP Peeper v5.4.1 running on Windows 10 22H2 up to date with Windows Update.

Periodically (maybe once every 2 weeks) POP Peeper terminates with no error message or indication of a problem. I start it again and all is well until the next time.

Anybody have any idea what may be causing this?

Thanks
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mjs
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by mjs »

It would appear POP Peeper is crashing on somewhat of a regular (2 week basis) for some reason.

One possible cause for this issue could be a message that arrives in your Inbox (that you haven't been receiving prior to when this issue started).

1) Have you added a message periodical that would be arriving in your Inbox on a relatively regular (2 week basis) the start of which would coincide with when the problem started?
2) How many email service providers in total do you have in POP Peeper (email providers such as Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail etc etc)?
3) And which specifically (i.e. Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail etc) are those email service providers?
4) About when did this problem start occurring?
5) Have you made any software (i.e. Security) additions, modifications or updates that would coincide with the start of this issue?
6) What 3rd party Firewall or AntiVirus are you using, if any?
7) Have you tried rebooting your computer?

Note: the issue might be caused by something other than a message retrieved by POP Peeper, but it's a place to start. It's somewhat of a difficult task to nail-down a periodical issue of this kind that only occurs about every two weeks. :? (questions 2 and 3 are to help give us an idea how difficult a task it might be :-k)

The next time POP Peeper crashes (assuming it's relatively soon) - try to determine if the crash happens to coincide with a specific email service provider source that would generally be sending messages to your Inbox every couple of weeks (as of the time this issue started).
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
DennyM
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

1) No periodical added to the best of my memory.
2)+3) 8 AOL
6 Hotmail
3 My ISP (POP3)
2 Yahoo
1 Gmail
1 Other ISP (POP3)
4) A few months ago but I didn't bother questioning until now.
5) Can not relate any updates to this issue.
6) Avast One AntiVirus used for years.
7) System is rebooted at least once a week and put into hibernation each night.

Next time it happens I will attempt to identify the message that was being processed. This may be hard as I usually don't know Pop Peeper has terminated until I notice I'm not getting any notifications.
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mjs
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by mjs »

Thank you, DennyM, for all the helpful feedback. :)

What version of Avast are you using? (there has been a recent topic posted in the forum in regards to sent messages not working in POP Peeper that turned out to be because of Avast).

If your Windows Event Viewer is setup to do so (which I think is default) then you should be able to take a look at all the POP Peeper crashes by scrolling back through the events to get an accurate accounting as to when they occurred that might help out to know how often and regular this occurs.
Here is a screen-shot on how to use the Windows Event Viewer.
Click on screen-shot for better viewing (click on browser page-back to return to forum topic)
Click on screen-shot for better viewing (click on browser page-back to return to forum topic)
Are you able to observe the POP Peeper crashes?

It might be helpful to post the dates as to when each occurred. We might be asking you more information about this later on.

Jeff will be looking into this as well and will probably have more questions going forward.
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

For Avast version see attached file "Avast Info.jpg"

I screen captured the Windows Event Viewer items I could find. It will only allow me to add 3 attachments so the others will follow.

I don't observe the crashes as no indication is seen until I notice POP Peeper has vanished.
Attachments
Pop Peeper 10-09-22.jpg
Pop Peeper 10-07-22.jpg
Avast Info.jpg
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

Windows Event Viewer files continued...
Attachments
Pop Peeper 11-15-22.jpg
Pop Peeper 11-11-22.jpg
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

Last Event Viewer files...
Attachments
Pop Peeper 12-30-22.jpg
Pop Peeper 12-18-22.jpg
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mjs
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by mjs »

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I had not intended that you should go to all the trouble of capturing/posting all of the POP Peeper crash screen-shots in the Event Viewer but rather just the crash dates would suffice (assuming the crashes were getting captured by the Event Viewer) as I mentioned "It might be helpful to post the dates as to when each occurred" (in order to try and determine any consistency, if any). :-o

However, thanks very much for all the effort put forward DennyM. :wink:

So the crash time-table works out to be the following:
10/07 - 02 days later
10/09 - 35 days later
11/11 - 04 days later
11/15 - 33 days later
12/18 - 12 days later
12/30 - so far 4 days have elapsed

Not much consistency as the crashes would appear to be essentially random. And I'm not finding any reports that the Avast 22 release is causing any app crashes.

You have quite a number of assorted Email Service Providers that you're using in POP Peeper - so it would appear (at least to me) that it's not going to be an easy task to nail this issue down. :(

The only thing I can think to do is (just as you mentioned in your post) -- next time POP Peeper crashes - try taking a look at the messages that arrived around the time of the crash (you can determine the date and time of the crash using the Windows Event Viewer - as it is understandable that you would generally not otherwise be aware of this information) to see if there are any messages that might look a bit suspicious/peculiar (i.e. not something you'd necessarily expect in your Inbox).
Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. - Will Rogers
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

How many total messages do you have in POP Peeper (make sure you're viewing *all accounts* and then refer to the status bar, bottom-left of the main window)?

I'm going to have you enable logging -- this may help narrow things down:
1) On the main PP window, press Ctrl+D
2) Enable the following:
- POP3/IMAP
- Real-time logging
- Log miscellaneous
- Save Changes
(do NOT enable "multilines" or "SMTP")
-> You can change the directory if you want
3) Press Close and confirm the prompt ("save changes" will keep logging enabled after you exit/restart PP)
4) It's possible/likely that the log will get very large quickly (which is why I didn't have you enable "MultiLines" yet). You may want to delete the existing log file every once in a while. It should be safe to do this when PP is not actively checking email (e.g. when the status bar says "X minutes remaining..."). It's also possible that enabling logging will circumvent the crash altogether (these things are often a timing issue and logging can throw that timing off), so keep that in mind. If you think that seems to be happening, be sure to let us know.

When the crash occurs:
1) DO NOT restart PP (PP is designed to delete the log file on restart except when a crash occurs, but better safe than sorry)
2) Go to the folder where the log file is saved (C:\PPLog\)
3) Rename the PPLog.txt file to something like PPLog-Crash01.txt
4) You can now restart PP
5) Zip the log file (PPLog-Crash01.txt) and email it to me (support at esumsoft dot com); please include a quick summary and link to this topic so I know why you're sending a log. DO not attach this file to the public forum as it may contain some sensitive info (it does not include passwords, but may include your email).


Eventually, you'll want to DISABLE logging:
1) Press Ctrl+D
2) DISable:
- POP3/IMAP
- Real-time logging
- Log miscellaneous
but ENable:
- Save changes
3) Press Close and confirm the prompt
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

There are a total of 3,023 messages. 2,942 of these are in one Hotmail account which is basically archival with very little new mail arriving in it.

Logging has been started as per your directions.
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

Ok, that's not what I would consider a significant number of messages (I have over 35K total, and I have an archival account which is at 15K). I was wondering if it could be RAM-related, but that doesn't seem likely.

Hopefully the log will provide some insight.
DennyM
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

It's been a while but POP Peeper quit for the first time since I started logging. The logfiles grow until they are 145MB and then a new one is created. I have attached the most recent logfile.
Last edited by Jeff on Wed Feb 08, 2023 12:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Deleted log file
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

I deleted your log file since it can contain some sensitive information (e.g. passwords are not included, but it may show login names). I'll take a look at it later today.
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

I forgot that I should email it to you instead of attaching it here. I'll remember next time the need arises. :D
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

Log analysis:
According to the log, the last thing is POP Peeper sending a "logout" command to your Yahoo server. Typically, 2 more lines would be expected after that -- the server responding saying it got the request to logout (something like "* bye server logging out") and then another line that PP had disconnected from the server. That, in itself, doesn't tell us much. However, right before that, something strange happened -- PP tried to send an IDLE command before it had even logged into your account. This had happened a few other times in your log, and I checked my own log and it also happens (although, not in a Yahoo account as far as I could tell).

So, because the problem I found seems to at least be prevalent, but not everybody's PP crashes, I'm not certain that this is the problem causing your crash, but it's certainly a good starting point.


Here's what I would like you to try, as this would help to narrow down the possibilities (and hopefully support my theory):
It looks like you have 2 IMAP accounts (Hotmail and Yahoo). I would like you to edit both these accounts in POP Peeper and disable/untick the "IDLE/Push" checkbox on the bottom-right of the 'general' page.

Also, since it seems that enabling logging may have delayed the crash (although, looking back at the timeline that mjs compiled of your crashes, maybe not), I'd like you to disabling logging. Instructions were at the bottom of my previous post here.
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

I checked all accounts and only 1 Gmail and 1 Yahoo had the "IDLE/Push" box checked. They have been unchecked and logging has been disabled as per your instructions.
DennyM
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

I just noticed that v5.4.5 was released and have installed it.
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

I didn't see a gmail account in your log, but I did see a Hotmail account. But, yes, for any IMAP accounts you have, you should disable IDLE -- for the purpose of this experiment.

I don't expect v5.4.5 to fix this (but thanks for updating so that we know), but I have subsequently made changes that address the problem I noted previously. So if the experiment seems to work, be sure to get back to me and I'll have you test these new changes.
DennyM
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 am

Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by DennyM »

Sorry it's been so long but I was not available for the month of March.

Since I have disabled IDLE I have had no POP Peeper terminations.
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Jeff
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Re: POP Peeper terminates

Post by Jeff »

Ok, that's good and potentially means that the problem/fix I've seen could be related. Please email me (support at esumsoft dot com) and I will provide you the fix to test once it's available.
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