Trouble:
A friend called me few days back and told me that he is getting "Security Certificate" Warnings while opening web-sites. Mostly when he opens some secure sites like online banking etc. There are three main reasons for such errors. In this post we will talk about the such errors, how they look on different browsers and how to fix them.
The Security Certificate Warning looks like as shown below for IE, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Click to enlarge the images.
Microsoft IE- There is a problem with this web site Security Certificate
Mozilla Firefox – Secure Connection Failed
Google Chrome – The server’s Security Certificate is not yet valid
Lets see the reasons for such errors and what to do in such case.
Fix:
The main reasons for such errors are:
- Your Computer’s date is set to a wrong value
- The Security Certificate has really expired
- The web-site is not trustable
Most common reason for such security certificate error is that the certificates are valid for a certain period of time, and if your computer’s date is set to other than the current date or correct date, there are high chances that you will get this warning. So the first thing to check when you receive such error is to check your computer’s date and time settings. If the date time keep re-setting again and again, then see this post on CMOS battery problem.
Now when you have set the date settings, you will most probably not see the this error again. But if you see the Security Certificate error, then either the certificate of the website has really expired as it had to be renewed from time to time, or the site is not trustable.
TIP: Never ever put your important login id or password on such pages if you see the Security certificate error.
|
|
Author + Admin: Abhishek BhatnagarHi, I am a Software Engineer by profession and blogger by passion, I write about computer tips and tricks and solutions for computer problems. You can connect with me at twitter or know more about me on www.abhishekbhatnagar.com.
Actually the term used in this article “Security Certificate” warning is too generic, because there can be other types of errors\warnings related to security certificates as well. One of the most prominent ones being when a site is using a certificate belonging to some other site, leading the browser to believe that the site is not trustable, but it is indeed trustable. A common example here would be gmail.com that uses a certificate belogning to google.com. So, in these cases there is no quick fix but one has to apply any factual knowledge or common sense to see whether it is ok to accept the certificate or not.
Great information. I had forgotten that I’d been changing the system date for some software trials and hadn’t changed it back. Low and behold, my wife just called and said the computer wasn’t working. An hour later I found out what the problem was, found this post and fixed it. Good stuff, thanks!
Thanks for your reason i asked about (There is a problem with this web site Security Certificate) real appreciate the date of my computer was wrong setting peace men wherever you are in whaterver you do one love
Thanks I am appreciate your reason.
Thanks a lot Abhi. I was really struggling a lot due to this continuously coming errors on each page…. When I saw your post, the reason I got was due to the older date on my pc for my problem.
Really thank you my friend.
Warm regards,
Kamal
Fantastic – my date was changed – we have several of these errors at work also. so i will trouble shoot them as well.
Cheers
Hey, Kaspersky products (KAV and KIS) can cause this sometimes…You need to disable the “Encrypted Connection” checking under “Traffic Monitoring”…Works
Really thank you my friend ,It was from my computer date.
Njdeh
I really had to say thanks. I thought i was going to have to take my computer back because of this error then did just a little searching and came here. Now my life is better. Ok so it didn’t fix my life but it feels like it. thanks you’re the reason the interweb is better then newspapers.
WOW this is genius
Thank u
Thanks a million Lior Aviram. I had tried everything but nothing worked. But then I saw your comment.
Oh, it is great and I have learned the trouble shooter
Keep it up, excellecnt tool to avoid the certifcate error.
Oh this is really amazing my girl friend was really in trouble she told me that she is facing some certificate error when opening any website on her PC then i saw that amazing solution and i told her she applied that and after that her pc is perfect she is really thankful to me and i always be thalkful to u.
Thank you so much!!!! I just spent 3 hours on ms support website chasing my tail trying to figure out why I haven’t been able to log into messenger, and all websites were diplaying this error. Found your site and fixed on about 10 seconds!!!!
thks.
Thanks So much 4 this info! it helped ALOT, Thank you!
This is FABULOUS — just helped my 60-year-old mother figure out how to change her date and time so that her gmail would work again. They had a power outage yesterday, which caused the date to go back to 2002. Thank you!!!
Hello,
yes your advice was helpful. But I’ve got a question related certificate error message, when it keeps telling you to accept it, although I’ve done it many times. My BIOS is alright. Just don’t have an appropriate certificate for the web-site.
So now, do you know if I could change it, that I won’t have to “add an exception” all the time. Maybe I have to make changes somewhere in the settings?
Thanks in advance!
Hello,
yes your advice was helpful. But I’ve got a question related certificate error message, when it keeps telling you to accept it, although I’ve done it many times. My BIOS is alright. Just don’t have an appropriate certificate for the web-site.
So now, do you know if I could change it, that I won’t have to “add an exception” all the time. Maybe I have to make changes somewhere in the settings?
Thanks in advance!
PS I’m using IE 8
Thanks for your help, issue resolved
thank you very much from thailand
Wow, My time and date was set to August 9th, 1998 5:00 am in the morning. HAHA! Thank you sooo much!
Also, sometimes this error can happen when the “www” is omitted from the url. Try adding a www if it is missing.
i changed the battery, set the time, checked the validity of the certificate still gatting the massage. any solution plz.
errmm hi^^, i keep getting this certificate error thing evreytime i try to sign in my youtube account and its getting really annoying i have fixed my date nd time my time is set correct my date is set correct and even my timezone is set correct some1 help meeee plase ^_^
i even cleard all my cookies….so yah someone help me please
My mate told me to google this problem and i clicked on this link, and you are a dead set legend, i reset the time, and its all fixed.
Cheers Mate….
Thanks very much! You just solved a problem that has perplexed us for a couple of weeks!
Thank you my friend your information made life easy for me. I have been suffering from the same problem for about a week and now it is solved, I just checked the date and it was incorrect. Thank you again and keep the good work up
Be Blessed..
realy its very useful data, thanks alot it reable ,regards
Thanks for the help. My computer was one month ahead of time causing me to have problems with itunes downloads.
Simple thing – wrong date – but I tried loads of things and a few websites before your answer just directed me to correct it
Thanks very much.
thanks…………. actually the time had changed.thanks a lot
My son’s computer had a security certificate problem when using Google. The site was displayed in Dutch and when you would click on the link to sign-in, you’d get the security certificate warning (like the ones shown above). This happened in Opera, Firefox and IE. I used Spybot Search & Destroy which found a “Windows.Fraud” malware with 111 entries. But it wouldn’t remove this malware and gave an access error listing C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. I went to this subfolder and deleted the file “hosts”. Then when I opened the browser and Google opened in English and I was able to click the link to sign-in. This worked in all 3 of the browsers. I re-ran Spybot and no malware was found.
I’m pleased with my saavy computer chops for fixing this. But I can’t explained what was amiss. Perhaps someone out there can.
Cheers,
Bryan
Chicago, IL
Thankyou!
I had been trying to sort this out for a while and i could never sort it.
My date was in 2008′ instead of 09′ xD
Thankyou so much
Thanks buddy….
My date said 1/28/03 You are awesome, Thanks!
omgggg thnx man!! been fuckin goin crzy kallin mad ppl && your shyt helpd! -much love
Thank you — inadvertantly reset my date last night while planning a schedule for 2010, without knowing the impact the reset would have on my security certificate expirations. I was sure I had been hacked, phished, defrauded, etc. After running my security software a couple of times, found your site via “security certificate error”, found the problem as you described. Don’t have to buy a new laptop yet, don’t have to slit my wrists. Feel a little bit more knowledgeable, though still pretty dumb. Looks like I’ve got a lot of company. Thanks again.
Thank you so much..Good post.
Thankx a lot…Gr8 work and gr8 info….
Awesome! I was worried it was something scary in my computer. Just the date. Total quick fix! Thanks!
Well Thanks a lot. I was not able to open website cos of date problems and your suggestion solved my problems. Keep it up
Thankyou so much. I’ve had so many problems with this and it was the date all along. It’s 2010, but my computor was set to 2007. My wife can now spend again!!
there’s more than just 3 possibilities.
my mom got that Additional Guard Virus on her computer and now she can’t access google (automatically redirects to Google Canada which is kind of a pain) and the gmail certificate’s are expired.
according to all scans i’ve gotten rid of the malware but some of the problems it caused still persist. like the certificates and her computer’s apparent love of maple leaves and hockey.
my computer had an certificate error when im log in to my facebook,, i cannot log in can you help me to fix it,, please thanks
Thanks a Lot!!!
Lior Aviram says,February 24th, 2009
Hey, Kaspersky products (KAV and KIS) can cause this sometimes…You need to disable the “Encrypted Connection” checking under “Traffic Monitoring”…Works
Hi,
Thanks alot your information was really helpful, you are really great, i honestly appreciate your talent and kindness
Wonderful,
Many Thanks,
Emal
My google certificate has actually expired and I constantly get pop ups stating that 443 uses an invalid certification with error code: sec_error_expired_issuer_certificate. My computer is set to the correct date and time. How can I either obtained an up-to-date goggle certificate or remove this error message?
Thanks so much for the help. I have done a number of searches trying to find the cause of this problem including Microsoft’s website and not until I came across yours was i able to fix it!
This worked for me …amazing ..thank you.. I had to call HP and they told me to contact Microsoft..I was going round and round in loop. This post helped me ..thank you so much
Its really very nice. You people are doing really great job. Thanks a lot. I was getting very anger for this. But thanks to u. Hope you keep doing this good jobs.Take care
Leave Your Comments Below
Hello, please leave your thought below
















50 Users Commented In This Post
Subscribe To This Post Comment Rss Or TrackBack URL