View Full Version : can't get into secure sites...
Earlier today I couldn't get into OPS and asked if it was just me. Others responded they could use OPS just fine...so I started looking elsewhere. I find that I cannot get into my account at ebay, nor can I bring up the main page at paypal. Tried a couple other 'login' pages and they all show 'page cannot be displayed' and 'cannot find server or DNS error'.
I can surf the net to any other normal pages without error.
I called my ISP (Direcway). The first helper went through setting up a proxy (which I have no knowledge about so I just did what she said). It did not help. Sent up to advanced support and that guy asked lots of questions about if a tree was in my way, if there was an airport near and so on. No change. He told me a local service tech will call me in 3-5 days!
So, in order to get back working like I must I've done these things: defrag, full system scan with Norton and ran SpyBot with NO errors shown. I got to thinking it might be a IE6 corruption, so I downloaded Firefox. No change.
My system has been working fine. I did a re-install of W2k about a month ago and use my computer for hours per day with no problem. This started late this morning.
Anything you can think of that I've missed? ANY help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Rancher
patrickpawlowsk
6-16-05, 08:20 AM
I'm not sure if all these sites use cookies for authentication or not but you might try lowering your privacy settings and then logging in or at least setting them to the default if they aren't there already. If that's not it then maybe there is somethign wrong with ssl which I'm sure most of these sites use. I'm not all that up on security, I don't know if ssl is a browser based service or if it is part of tcp/ip protocol stack. If it's part of tcp/ip then it wouldn't matter which browser you used.
Just a few thoughts, hopefully someone will come along who has seen such behaviour before.
patrickpawlowsk
6-16-05, 08:24 AM
I did a quick lookup and it looks like ssl would be browser based so since you are experiencing the problem with both browsers, that's most likely not it. I wonder if all these sites have verisign certificates and you actually weren't able to connect to them for some reason?
My first impression is that a firewall (hardware or software) is in the way and hasn't been configured to allow https. But you don't mention a new installation of (or changes to) a firewall around the time of this problem so that may not be the problem.
In addition to the other suggestions mentioned, I would update W2k with all the latest updates and update IE to all the latest updates. Why update IE? IE and the OS share many application extensions. It's possible that some mal-ware that has possibly been removed has corrupted a file that affects the OS in addition to IE thus affecting other web browsers.
Other than that all I can say is wait for the Tech guy to show up and hope he/she knows what they are doing.
Tech guy just left....traced the problem to an entry in the registry 'that didn't look right' to him. It looks greek to me, so I have no idea what it was or where it came from! Got rid of Norton and I now have AVG installed and remember someone on these forums talking about a free firewall they used, so will look that up. Thanks for your suggestions and help, it's greatly appreciated.
Rancher
patrickpawlowsk
6-17-05, 08:54 AM
Got rid of Norton and I now have AVG installed Good move! Bett'r and Free'r IMHO. Sorry, I don't know about any free firewalls other than the one with SP2. I don't use a software firewall. I let the router keep people out. I'm sure many would dissagree, but I don't see the need for a software firewall if you are behind a router.
From what I've seen, software firewalls cause more problems than they solve. Maybe i've just seen the bad ones.
basicwebus
6-20-05, 04:38 PM
For a free firewall, try ZoneAlarm. There is a free version and a pro version. I use the free version and it does a good job for me.
You can download it here: Zonelabs Free ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=dbtopnav_zass)
basicwebus
How about just getting a linux box in place and having a true firewall?
As far as Browsing.. get yourself FireFox and stop using IE...
mrmagill
6-26-05, 02:02 AM
For a free firewall, try ZoneAlarm. There is a free version and a pro version. I use the free version and it does a good job for me.
You can download it here: Zonelabs Free ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?lid=dbtopnav_zass) basicwebus
Zonealarm is indeed a good firewall, but can be VERY difficult to remove, especially from Windows 98 and ME should you decide to change later. See This Link (http://forum.theispguide.com/isp-ftopic1024.html) as a sample of many, which speak of having to manually uninstall it from the registry AFTER the uninstaller ran. My own experience: It took 4 attempts at the directions and (thankfully) 3 recoveries from restore points to get things working again.
I'm not suggesting its bad software, it works good while installed. It can just be difficult to remove. I then switched to Sygate Personal Firewall (http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm) which is free for personal use and found I liked a lot. When I later removed it to try another (I switched back afterwards) it removed cleanly.
Best of luck -
Oh, how true. Mark has said what I have been dealing with - uninstalling Zone Alarm (I've got W2k) is a nightmare! I'm still not sure it's ALL gone. If I represented that business I'd be embarrassed and you'd think they'd create a decent fix instead of reading page after page of uninstall problems on Google. Thanks for the link to Sygate.
Rancher
I've never had any problems with Zone Alarm, or uninstalling it. But if you want a good alternitive you could try Kerio Personal Firewall - they do a free addition.
patrickpawlowsk
6-29-05, 11:56 AM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16833127013 I'd spend the $25 for a router and dump the software firewall.
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