Failure of my Gnus

[Joseph Fineman]

In May I described this problem, first on gnu.emacs.help and then
(following advice there) on this mailing list.  I have seen no
response.  Since then I have been unable to use Gnus.  

I use Emacs 26.1 (build 1) and Gnus 5.13 under Cygwin 2.0.2 under
Windows 10.0.  Since 29 April Gnus has behaved badly.

First, it refused to display incoming mail, giving error messages of
the form

  Mail source [...] streamssl error (Memory exhausted -- use C-xs then
  exit and restart Emacs)

The advice was useless.  I tried pruning some bloated backup
directories in ~/News & ~/Mail, but that did not help.  Then, several
days later, it also refused to send mail ("too many bad auth
attempts").

Using the Task Manager, I checked memory usage with & without Emacs
running.  There was no change.

Gnus still accesses newsgroups, but with very long delays both in
bringing up a newsgroup and in bringing up entries.  Nevertheless, I
posted a query on gnu.emacs.help, and received one reply, suggesting
this mailing list.

Signing in to Gnus has a bad effect, afterward, on Emacs as a whole.
Its response to keystrokes was sporadically slowed, and commands that
required access to many files (such as dired on a directory with many
files) became extremely slow.  When I restarted Emacs, it behaved
normally.

I have managed to send & receive email by dealing directly with my
supplier (AOL), but that is a nuisance.  I will be grateful for any
advice on restoring Gnus to its proper working, or on finding someone
who can be paid to help.

Yours faithfully,
-- 
    Joseph C. Fineman     
    495 Pleasant St., Apt 1      Answering machine:  (781) 324-6899
    Malden, MA 02148-3505        I will pick up if I am in.
    E-mail:  joe_f@verizon.net   Call ahead for fax.