However, there are similar issues in other programs also. E.g. in Outlook, there might be a option to keep the reading pane empty when launching Outlook or changing a folder, i.e. not to select any email by default. In particular, this would be beneficial for harmful mails.
I really do not understand why the IMAP folders can't be selected anymore according to the server used.
The worst case is like Chrome, where the Cleanup Tool (software_reporter_tool.exe) slows disk down at every start-up without any option to disable.