Released on April 15, 2005, Mac OS 10.3.9 updates several different system-level components, but also appears to introduce noticeable stalls and delays when connecting to any email server over a secure connection. When accessing email from UConn's Exchange email server, using a secure connection is the only option allowed. Some of the reported problems that are being experienced  with Mail in Mac OS 10.3.9 include:

• Stalls in "comparing notes with server" messages
• Stalls in "opening mailbox" messages
• Rules not operating properly on incoming mail
• Previously-deleted messages re-appearing within the Inbox
• Public folders generating repeated error messages when downloading contents

Issues noted above are not consistent, but largely vary based on the number of messages within a given folder. The issue is not reported to occur in any other version of  Mac OS 10.3 or 10.4 (10.3.9 is the only reported version of the OS experiencing this issue).

The issue detailed on this page only affect Macs running the following software/configuration:

• Mac OS 10.3.9 (Mail v1.3.11)
• Apple Mail used to access UConn Exchange email

Note: this issue does not affect other email clients or any other version of the Mac OS.

As of the date listed above there is no known 100% fix for accessing UConn's Exchange server using Apple's Mail included with Mac OS 10.3.9, other than upgrading to Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger). The following workarounds can be used to reduce the extent of the delays/slow-downs in using Exchange with Apple Mail.

1. Reduce the number of email messages in Exchange server folders

• Stalls in connecting to Exchange appear to be accentuated by having a large number of messages within folders that are stored on the server. To resolve this, either delete unnecessary message or move messages to a local mailbox. See the Help menu within Mail for exact information on how to delete messages within Apple Mail.
• Folders that you should check (ie: ones often fill with a large number of messages) include:
  
  • Inbox
  • Sent Items / Sent
  • Junk Email / Junk
  • Deleted Items / Trash

2. Uncheck options to store Draft, Sent, Junk, & Deleted messages on the server

• Note: if you access your Exchange account from multiple computers this step will keep draft, sent, junk, and deleted messages only on the computer you enable it on - other computers (or accessing Exchange over the web) will not be able to access these messages.

• Access the Preferences from the Mail menu.
• Select the Accounts section.
• Highlight your Exchange account in the list of accounts in the left column.
• Switch to the Special Mailboxes tab on the right.
• Uncheck all options to store messages on the server

3. Use the Mail Activity Viewer to terminate stalled processes

• The Activity Viewer found in Mail's Window menu lists all activity currently occurring within Mail. Since Mail's behavior amounts to stalls on certain connections to the server, you can use Activity Viewer to monitor these connections and force-quit or kill the bad connection(s), allowing you to retry accessing your mail message more efficiently than simply re launching the program or switching folders.

• Open the Activity Viewer from the Window menu.
• Do what you would normally do in Mail
• Whenever it appears to stall, switch the Activity Viewer window and click the Stop icon to terminate the errant connection/process
• Switch mailboxes and retry the activity that you just attempted

4. Keep current on all Apple OS/security updates

• Some users have reported success with downloading and installing the Apple 2005-006 Security Update. However, as of Wed, 6/15/05, we do not have confirmation from Apple indicating that the issue has been resolved.

5. Unofficial Mail "patch" testing

• UITS is currently testing an unofficial "patch" to the Apple network library in Mac OS 10.3.9. This patch consists of an installer that swaps out a certain component of the network library in Mac OS 10.3.9 with the older library from 10.3.8.
• This is not an official Apple fix or resolution to this issue and we do not know yet what side-effects this may have on other components of the operating system.
• Please contact the UITS Help Desk at 486-HELP for more info.

Updated: 8/24/2007