Mail takes hours to download

[Jeanne Blumberg]

Help! Most of the time my mail downloads pretty quick, but sometimes it gets
stuck and takes hours and hours to get to my inbox. What could this be?

 

[mikeyhsd]

since you have failed to provide enough information to try and make a guess.
could be dialup speed. could be cable overload. could be isp overload. could be servers busy.

more info on your connection and from where you are retrieving mail would help.





(e-mail address removed)



Help! Most of the time my mail downloads pretty quick, but sometimes it gets
stuck and takes hours and hours to get to my inbox. What could this be?

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

At what step does it get stuck? Is it at something like
"Downloading 3 of 12 messages..."?
Do any messages get downloaded multiple times?

 

[Jeanne Blumberg]

It gets stuck at "downloading 1 of X messages" and none of the messages are
large. Once the first message is done the others come pretty fast. I have
cable and everything else is very fast.

At what step does it get stuck? Is it at something like
"Downloading 3 of 12 messages..."?
Do any messages get downloaded multiple times?

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Help! Most of the time my mail downloads pretty quick, but sometimes it
gets stuck and takes hours and hours to get to my inbox. What could this
be?

 

[Gary VanderMolen]

If the same messages are not downloaded multiple times, then
this is not a corrupted or stuck message on the server.
It sounds more like interference from your antivirus program.
Windows Mail is not compatible with most McAfee and Norton
security programs. Those will need to be uninstalled, not just disabled.

After uninstalling your non-compatible antivirus, download
and install a more compatible antivirus like:

AVG free edition:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/5390/us/frt/0?prd=aff
or
Avast free edition:
http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

With either of those, during the install phase you must select custom
install, and then deselect the email scanning option.
--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

It gets stuck at "downloading 1 of X messages" and none of the messages are large. Once the first message is done the others
come pretty fast. I have cable and everything else is very fast.

At what step does it get stuck? Is it at something like
"Downloading 3 of 12 messages..."?
Do any messages get downloaded multiple times?

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]

Help! Most of the time my mail downloads pretty quick, but sometimes it gets stuck and takes hours and hours to get to my
inbox. What could this be?

 

[Ian Betts]

While I agree with you that both Norton and McAfee are not very good, it has
nothing to do with the compatibility. Its just how they are set up to scan
mail but more likely its that your server will only allow certain size of
mail in one shot and tends to send it in smaller packets.

About the MTU
A what? MTU, or Maximum Transmission Unit, in over simplistic terms its the
largest amount of data your broadband can handle in one chunk or "packet".
The broadband network has an MTU of 1432 bytes if a conversation between
your computer and your website sends data larger than can be fitted in a
single packet then they are broken down into smaller chunks dicated by the
MTU. If your MTU is configured wrongly then you can fragment packets which
can cause slow connections. In some cases the remote site cannot or will not
handle these fragmented packets,and they are discarded and never reach their
destinations which results in one end of the conversation thinking
everything has stopped and the connection breaking.

In plain and simple terms, if you have an MTU configured that is too large
then you will experience problems ranging from slow performance through to
failed website loading.

This is a router setting