Cannot Access Secure Sites - Comments Page 1

Hi Bob,
I wish I had seen this article earlier as I have been having trouble accessing secure sites such as my bank account since having Windows XP SP2 installed after a total system crash. Hunting around, by chance I cured the problem just before I came across your article. All I did was go to Tools/Internet Options/Advanced Tab and clicked on "Restore Defaults". Maybe I thereby reset the "SSL" and "TLS" options you refer to above, but it was an easy solution for an innocent like me.

Really appreciate all the help you give us. Regards, Victor.

One last thing that I have seen work is to put the secure site in the trusted sites of IE, which you can do since it's a secure site.
The other thing is to try a different browser.

AG

I had the problem regarding access to secure web sites for the last 18 months and wracked my brains looking for a solution. I finally found the solution last Thursday and want to share this with you.

It involved a little more than turning off the firewall as suggested. We had long since forgotten the free trial of Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Security that since expired. If the months go by, and you forget it's there, and it's not obviously a start program, it's difficult to remember. However, during a search last week I found another person who had forgotten about the Norton, developed the same problems I had, and it was fixed as soon as the Norton "free-trials" were uninstalled. I uninstalled it and voila! Problem solved!

Jeff K.
Irvine, CA

One final thought that no one mentioned - it could be that the "secure site" requires ActiveX to be "allowed to connect". Security wisdom says don't run ActiveX, but so many sites are enamored with the capability of ActiveX. Many sites use ActiveX to set-up forms, etc. I believe this is probably the case with the poster!

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not aware of any current ActiveX exploits. Since many sites depend on it, I recommend against disabling it.

This problem almost made me crazy when I first downloaded SP2. My "modem on hold" on my V92 modem suddenly stopped working and I was denied access to some, but NOT ALL, secured sites. Finally turned off my firewall and presto ! everything was back to normal. Wish they could warn us before they "fix" some things.

they have a web blocker at work now and i can t get on blocked sites now ? they are using watch gaurd technologies , how can i get around this

If you have similar issues with Belkin router, you can try changing the MTU settings on the computer. Note: If you change MTU on one computer, it is likely you will want to change it on your other computers, switches, and routers, as well.

The third party Dr. TCP software can be used to change the MTU setting. This can be downloaded from http://www.dslreports.com/drtcp

Unzip the Utility to your desktop. Run the utility.

In the Adapter Settings pull down, select the Ethernet driver and adapter used to connect with the network.

In the MTU box, type the MTU size (1400)you are trying.

Click in any other box, without changing the data there.

Click Save. Click Exit. Restart the computer.

I also have a similar problems from last 3-4 days. I am not able to access any mails(yahoo, gmail) or any secure sites which requires login from my pc. When I try to access these, IE says page not found, netsacape says connection refused to .... But I can access normal sites like google or news sites which doesn't require a login id. This happened all of a sudden overnight, nothing has changed on the security level. I doubt it can be some spyware? Any light into this matter is really appreciated. Thanks.

I had the same problem where i was unable to access secure sites e.g. Hotmail,Yahoo Mail etc. I just restarted my router every time the message would come up with page not displayed, and by restarted i mean resetting the whole thing, clearing all data. A couple of weeks ago I found this box thing on the wireless router settings called UPnP, this was disabled, after enabling it i have never had the problem with not being able to access secure sites!! Try enabling UPnP if it is not already done so.

Randomly enabling or disabling router settings (like UPnP) is not advisable unless you know what it does. UPnP is for Universal Plug and Play, and in your router by enabling this you are saying to ANY application that can make use of this: "go ahead, open up my network to anything you feel like slamming me with." Besides, this is unlikely the problem. I have 9 computers on my network using the same router to access the internet, only two of them are unable to access any https, ssl, or email sites, and UPnP is Disabled on the router. Still haven't found a fix for the two computers, but the other seem to have no problem at all. Even reinstalling Windows XP from scratch has not cured the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. All posted solutions have failed.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Have you tried connecting it directly to the cable/dsl modem, bypassing the router?

Hi Bob... great site! I just installed a wireless router (Netgear) and suddenly things like YahooMessenger and some secure sites won't work.

I've read some places that YahooMessenger just won't work with a router. Is there a safe fix for this on the router? Thank you!

EDITOR'S NOTE: Are you using a software firewall? If so, try to disable it.

I don't get it!! I installed the internet a few days ago in our home. It's a DLINK Modem/Router all together. I've been dealing with wireless networks for the past 2 years and never had any issues, and now, I cant access secure sites! What the heck happened? I've been trying EVERYTHING, NOTHING WORKS!! The funny thing is that no one else in the house has that same issue. I restored, disabled the firewall, uninstalled antivirus software, restored IE settings, deleted files and cookies, tried FireFox (same issue)..... What the heck happened?????? Why is is that my roommate who has the EXACT SAME LAPTOP has no issues??

ALSO.... My Windows Live Messenger wont work. Funny thing is that yesterday, it didnt work, but I tried to repair the settings a few times with their integrated troubleshooter, and it finally worked. But today it doesn't work, and I've tried all day. Any help would be great!

I hosted a secure web site. It was accessible from some areas whereas inaccessible from some other areas (using the same laptop). After an upgradation of firewall, it is accessible from all locations. Can anyone tell me how could firewall resolve this issue. Or was it something else that has resolved the issue. Any help would be great!

Hi. Just recently, I bought a Netgear router DG834G and hooked up 4 computer onto it to be used through wireless. I seem to having the same problem as everyone here. I cannot access any https sites or even MSN messenger. I tried playing around with the router settings but nothing seems to work. I have no firewalls set up nor do i have any anti virus programs going. None of the 4 computers can access https sites. Any help will be appreciated...thanks a tonne.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Did you check over all the settings in the "Check Your Browser" section of the article? Does a wired connection have the same problem? How about if you eliminate the router and plug ONE machine into the modem?

Hi. I've exactly the same problem.. plug my laptop into my old 3com router.. everything works perfect.. plug it into the new linksys wag200g router and cant access secure sites or msn. Completely baffled...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Does the new router have any settings or options pages that pertain to firewalls or URL blocking? That might shed some light...

I am having the same problem and have tried everything except rerouting the router. The problem happened just out of the blue and the only thing we can think of that happened at the time was a Java upgrade. Would that have anything to do with it?

EDITOR'S NOTE: No, a Java update should not affect this.

I've been trying to fix this prob for ages, i have a DSL-G604T dlink modem and it used to work perfect with my toshiba laptop. I moved house and setup a new internet connection and now i cant access https sites through wireless? we had a computer tech come around and he didnt know what he was doing.... Although when i connect my other dsl modem to my laptop everything works fine... same settings and all...

EDITOR'S NOTE: So why not use the modem that works?

I was having this problem, running xp and a wrt54g linksys router. I tried everything. Finally I updated the firmware on the router and that solved the problem.

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop L100-121 model. I have a Buffalo WIFI router also. When I connect the laptop to the router with a lan cable - I can open everything. When I connect trough WIFI I cannot access https web pages, the MSN does not work, the SKYPE is connecting, but no messages are sent. I updated the WIFI driver, I changed the OS - from XP Home I passed to XP Pro - but the problem persists. I brought my work laptop - HP Compaq and it works perfectly with this WIFI router. Is it possible the WIFI card of the laptop to be broken?

EDITOR'S NOTE: You could try swapping the wifi card, but I would see if there is a firewall issue first.

i am not able to access certain sites which are blocked by my company. please provide me a way to crack this firewall issue so that i have access to all the sites without anybody noticing this. i know its part of ethical hacking :)

EDITOR'S NOTE: You can try a service like anonymizer.com, Guardster or Peacefire.org.