How to Switch Between Online and Offline Modes in Thunderbird

One of the advantages of using a desktop email client is being able to go offline, over just accessing our email over the web. Being able to disconnect and purposely being offline for focus work, or when it is necessary due to unavailability or poor access to the internet, is one of the benefits of using an application like Thunderbird.

Below is a quick guide on how to toggle between online and offline modes in Thunderbird.

Switching Between Online and Offline Modes in Thunderbird

There are two methods to toggle or switch between online and offline modes.

Interface Method

1. At the bottom left of Thunderbird, look for the "Signal" icon. Clicking on the icon will toggle Thunderbird between Online and Offline modes.

2. If this is the first time that you are going offline, then the Signal icon would show an online status ( as shown in the image below ).

   
   
   

3. Click on the "Signal" icon to go Offline.

4. There will be a dialog box asking if you would like to download your emails before going offline. If you would like your emails to be available once you go offline, click on the button "Download Now".

   
   
   

5. You will see the download / sync progress on the bottom right of Thunderbird.

6. Once downloading is complete, the "Signal" icon will be grayed out and will have a slash in the middle to icon, meaning Thunderbird is now in offline mode.

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Menu App Method

1. First, if you are unable to see the menu bar which should be below the search bar at the top of the application, you can press ALT to temporarily reveal the Application Menu bar.

2. If you are still unable to see the menu bar, you can enable it by clicking on the "hamburger" icon ( three horizontal lines ) on the top right of the app near the "Minimize" and "Close" buttons. Navigate to View > Toolbars and click to enable "Menu Bar".

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

3. From the Main Application Menu, navigate to File > Offline and you can toggle "Work Offline" from there.

   

Show File Name Extensions in Windows 11 File Explorer

By default, and as a consistent design decision going back to previous versions, the Windows 11 File Explorer hides file name extensions. Though it simplifies the interaction between a casual user and provides a cleaner user interface, there are advantages and most would like to have file name extensions to be shown. Being able to verify actual file name extensions gives users better recognition and control over their files, from being able to quickly spot disguised executables ( e.g. invitation.pdf.exe ) and avoid malicious software being run or installed on their machines, to having better control when working with different types of files, like when viewing files that have similar or the same names ( e.g. image.jpg and image.png ). Visual cues like icons are not as reliable as actually knowing the file name extensions of the files that we manage and work with.

Below are 2 ways to enable file name extensions to be shown in Windows 11 File Explorer.

View options in File Explorer ( Quickest Method )

1. Open File Explorer ( Windows Key + E )
2. On the toolbar, click on View -> Show -> File Name Extensions. File Name Extensions should have a checkmark after being selected or clicked.
   
3. Filename extensions should now be displayed and shown in File Explorer.
   

Folder Options ( Traditional Method )

1. Open File Explorer ( Windows Key + E )
2. Click the three-dot menu and select Options
   
3. In the Folder Options dialog, open the View tab
4. Under Advanced settings, look for and uncheck the setting for Hide extension for known file types.
   
5. Click Apply and then OK.

Backup GMail to Thunderbird ( IMAP )

1. Download and install Thunderbird.
2. Run Thunderbird.
3. Provide email address and password during automatic configuration.
4. Allow access to GMail when prompted by Google.
5. Allow Thunderbird to do initial synchronization. Default setting of Thunderbird is to download for all folders.
6. Go offline and proceed with the prompt to download messages for offline use. Download progress should be displayed at the bottom of the Thunderbird window.
7. Go to General Settings > Offline Settings. Turn off “Automatically follow detected online state” and under “Manual state when starting up”, select “Offline".
   
   
   
8. Review messages in offline state to check if all messages have been downloaded.

Optionally, if the backup is for archiving an offline copy that will be stored in an external storage, you can download Portable Thunderbird, and use the same steps above for backing up your email.

Disable Adaptive Brightness on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10

If you have a newer laptop running Windows 8, 8.1 and 10, you probably have noticed your screen automatically adjusting brightness when switching applications that have light to dark backgrounds, or when working in different lighting conditions. This is due to a feature that makes use of the ambient light sensors on your laptop to automatically adjust your screen's brightness level - aptly named Adaptive Brightness. This can be useful for conserving battery life, but can be annoying when you are trying to focus, read or work.

Disable Adaptive Brightness ( I tested this on Windows 8.1, but should work on both 8 and 10 )

1. Open the Windows Control Panel ( Do Windows key + C on your keyboard to open the Windows Charms, click on Settings and select Control Panel ).
2. From the Control Panel, navigate to Hardware and Sounds > Power Options.
3. On your selected Power Plan, click on Change Plan Settings.
4. Next, find and go to Change advanced power settings.
5. On Power Options, look for Display and click on the plus sign to expand the available options.
6. Expand Enable adaptive brightness and turn off for either On battery or plugged in, or turn off for both.
7. Click on Apply to save changes.

Note: After doing the steps above, you may need to restart your PC for changes to take effect.

VLC does not support the audio or video format "G2M4"

While trying to play a GoToMeeting Recording, I encountered the following error message:

VLC does not support the audio or video format "G2M4". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this.

To resolve the issue, I downloaded and installed the Windows Media Player codec from GoToMeeting. Follow the link and click on the button "Install GotoMeeting codec".

Using .ico format in Photoshop

I usually would just use free online converters for generating favicons, but recently I just stumbled upon an old plugin that works from Photoshop 5.0 ( on Windows ) up to latest version. Just remember to download the correct plugin version and read the instructions for proper installation.

Link: ICO (Windows Icon) file format plugin for Photoshop

Remove Search the web (Babylon) from Firefox

If opening a browser you find out that your default search has been changed to Babylon search, and that your browser now has the Babylon toolbar, then a recent application you just installed has been bundled with an installer for this sneaky toolbar and browser extension for Firefox, Chrome and IE.

You can follow this guide from a Babylon support page on how to remove the unwanted application and extensions that it has installed on Firefox and Chrome and Internet Explorer.

After following the guide, try to install and run Spybot ( a malware removal tool ) to remove registry entries that Babylon has created or changed.

I found that after doing the removal of the applications associated with Babylon, uninstallation of browser extensions and running Spybot, Firefox still had some settings that remained from the Babylon software, which resurfaced after updating Firefox to a newer version. One of things that resurfaced was that my search bar was using Babylon again. To remove these settings, what I did was to reset Firefox to its default settings. You can do this by:

Important note: Resetting Firefox will remove all the things that have been accumulated by Firefox, including history, saved site passwords, etc.

1. Click on the Firefox menu button and navigate to Help > Restart with Addons Disabled.

   

2. On the popup box, select Restart.

3. Once Firefox starts up again, it will open another dialog box. Select Reset Firefox. Confirm that you really want to reset by clicking on Reset Firefox for the second time.

4. Once Firefox starts up again, you will be given the first run screen, as if you have just reinstalled Firefox.