Can't Access Secure Sites

Here is a small tutorial based upon secure sites and their complications

Internet Explorer Cannot Connect to Secure Web Sites ---> There are a number of possible causes, which in turn have 7 suggested fixes. You can test your ability to connect to SSL sites using these SSL tests:

Microsoft or Ebay

If you get the "page cannot be displayed" then I'm afraid you can't access SSL sites.
An example of this picture can be found here!

Here are the steps that you should try to fix your "secure sites problem".

Verify that Internet Explorer Is Using 128-Bit Encryption:

• In Internet Explorer, on the Help menu, click About Internet Explorer
• The level of encryption on your computer appears next to the words Cipher Strength.
• Verify that the Cipher Strength value appears as 128-bit
• If the Cipher Strength is anything less then 128-bit, download the "Explorer Internet High Encryption Pack" to your computer's hard disk, and then install it.

Delete Temporary Internet Files

• There's also a possibility of some corrupted files in your Temporary Internet Files (TIF) storage. You should clear these
• In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and select the General tab
• Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Files, and click OK when you are prompted to confirm the deletion

Configure Security settings for the Trusted sites zone in Internet Explorer:

• In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and select the Security tab
• Select Trusted sites, and then click Default Level
• Add the secure Web site you are trying to access to the Trusted sites zone. To do so, click Sites, type the address (URL) of the site in the Add this Web site to the zone box
• Click Add, click OK, and then click Apply

Clear the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) slate and AutoComplete history:

• In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and select the Content tab
• Under Certificates, click Clear SSL State
• Click OK when you receive the message that the SSL cache was successfully cleared
• Under Personal information, click AutoComplete
• Under Clear AutoComplete history, click Clear Forms. Click OK when you are prompted to confirm the operation.

Verify that Internet Explorer is configured to use SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0

• In Internet Explorer, click on the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and select the Advanced tab
• In the Settings box, under the Security header, click to select the Use SSL 2.0 and Use SSL 3.0 check boxes (if they are not already selected), and then click OK

Verify that the Date and Time Settings on Your Computer Are Correct:

• Because SSL certificates have an expiration date, if the date on your computer isn't correct, it may prevent you from connecting to secure sites.
• To verify that your computer is configured with the correct date and time settings
• Click Start > click Control Panel
• Click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Date and Time
• Select the Date & Time tab
• Check to make sure that the date and time settings are configured to use the current date and time, and then click OK

Check the file integrity of the IE and Outlook:

• Click Start>Run> "sfc /scannow" (without quotes) It might ask for the Windows CD to upload the corrupted files
• Click Start>Run> regsvr32 softpub.dll (without quotes) and wait for the OK message; then try again.

Here are some Microsoft Knowledge Base articles dealing with this problem that you may like to look at if you aren't able to solve the problem. Just Google the error number and you should find some additional info on it!

• 261328 - Cipher Strength Appears as 0-Bit in Internet Explorer
• 301803- Error Message When You Try to Connect to Secure Site: Client Certificate Has Expired or Is Not Yet Valid
• 303807- "The Page Cannot Be Displayed" Error Message When You Try to View Web Page on a Secure Web Site
• 305217- Page Cannot Be Displayed Error During SSL 3.0 Server Session Timeout
• 811383- Internet Explorer Connectivity and Certificate Display Issues
• 813951- You Cannot Access Your MSN E-mail Account or Authenticate with a Web Site in Various Programs
• 821814- You Receive a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" Error Message When You Post to a Site That Requires Authentication

Hope this helps,
All the best
David

Edited by D-Trojanator, 05 May 2007 - 02:57 AM.

d-trojanator~
i was surprised to see my problem in one of the first forums i chose. i have had this problem for several months now, and i tried all the suggestions on your post, however none of them worked. having my computer at home is almost pointless without this ability. do you have any more suggestions? my dsl provider once told me that there was a bug that caused this. i have ran all my virus software, my firewall is off (other than windows) i have spybot and have ran it, everything is coming up with nothing...i don't know what else to do. i even did a system restore all the way back to october. please help!!
any help you can give will be greatly appreciated!!
thanks
amanda

Hi delews

Do you have a router at all?

my firewall is off (other than windows)

So, you mean Windows firewall is on?

David

d-trojanator~
sorry it took so long to respond...i forgot my log in and everything...then couldn't get in at home, i'm at work now...ssh! anyway, i don't have a router, and i had zone alarm, but i always shut it down, and since have removed it completely. the only firewall is the one already in win xp

Can you temporarily turn off the firewall and see if you can connect to secure sites. After you have checked, please turn it back on.

You read how to do so here.

Let me know what happens.

David

thanks for the tutorial ... helpedm e a lot

i've been having this problem for months, where i can't access gmail or yahoo or any log-in secure sites - for some reason, bittorrent, googletalk, and skype applications don't work either! im not sure how to fix it and i've tried the seven suggestions....in addition, i cannot download updates from microsoft.com (or actually download anything at all from microsoft.com) and some applications such as adobe can't download updates either....it's really frustrating...so far, i've been looking into using hijackthis but i have no idea how to use it and i don't want to crash my computer permanently...i've been using norton antivirus [well, it's an expired version (Norton Antivirus 2004) and for some reason its auto-protect function just shut off out of nowhere] and ad-aware to scan my computer and it seems to no avail....i've tried using anonymizers to access gmail and other secure sites as well and still can't get in...i turned off the windows xp firewall as well...no effect...it doesn't seem like anything is working...how can i get gmail, yahoo, bittorrent, googletalk, skype, and other secure websites working again?

Edited by xzerojl, 20 February 2006 - 03:19 AM.

I cannot answer your question about your secure sites being blocked, but I have a suggestion about Norton 2004. You should remove it since it is of little value with the definion being of f date.

Uninstall Norton 2004

There are several very good freeware antivirus software available. The list is bleow. By the way do you have a firewall install and running?

Antivirus (Run only one.)
AVG Free Edition Antivirus (I personally use)
Avast Home Edition Antivirus Freeware
AntiVir Personal Edition Classic Freeware
BitDefender 8 Free Edition

I found this MicroSoft link that may address your problem.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;Q318815

hey! thanks a lot! just from uninstalling norton antivirus 2004, i can access all secure sites and all my applications are working!

im installing AVG now to replace norton!

once again, thanks a lot!

Glad to be of help. Good luck, and hope to see you soon.

Good spot Acklan - do you think it's worth adding to the main post?
David

Your call but I think so.

Try Sygate Firewall (or one of the other freeware firewalls)...

Firewalls(Run only one.)
Zone Alarm Free for Personal Use
SyGate Personal Free Edition (I personally use)
OutPost Firewall Free
Jetico Personal Free
Kerio Free Personal Firewall

Very good software firewall.

Edited by acklan, 26 February 2006 - 09:13 PM.

Hey, thanks!
I've had this exact same problem, and uninstalling Norton solved it!
I thought I had tried everything, and was getting ready to wipe my hard disk and start over.

Thanks a million, guys! From the posts I've seen around the net, I'll bet a bunch of folks are running into this problem.
-Aaron

More info:
I had let my Norton subscription lapse by a few months, and then moved. My computer remained in a box for a month after I moved, and when I hooked it back up I couldn't access any secure sites. Checked everything to no avail. Norton was installed on my machine but the 'internet security' part was turned off, and the anti-virus was doing periodic scans but was not active. Uninstalling Norton fixed the problem- I'm now using AVG. I had a little trouble unintalling Norton b/c I was not logged in as an 'administrator', and Norton wanted a password to do so. A quick check of Norton's website found that if you've never set a password, you just leave the password blank when logging in. Once logged in as the admin, you can uninstall.