Invalid or Expired Security Certificate?

Hi Dave. Maybe you can help me with this problem. Whenever I try to go on a site that requires secure log-in, eg. bank, ebay etc. I get a security warning pop-up saying there is a problem with the sites security certificate. It says "the security certificate has expired or is not yet valid" and gives me options to continue yes/no or view certificate. I am operating Windows ME and IE 6, all updated and I also run AVG free anti-virus and spybot regularly. I have searched the web for answers to this and also asked several PPL including my bank's IT helpline. I have done everything suggested but still get the warning!

Dave's Answer:

After thinking about this for a while, I wasn't sure that I had any particularly great solution to propose. My standard response would be to check the security preferences of the Web browser and to try visiting one or more of the sites using a different browser like Firefox.

In a private dialog, however, I was pleased to hear that the chap who sent in this question figured out the problem on his own, and it's a beauty:

Dave, just so you know, I've figured out my problem with the expired or not yet valid security certificates: the date on my computer was set wrong and it thought I was years in the past! Once I fixed the date and time, all of these problems vanished.

This is a simple solution to a vexing problem and, as Sherlock Holmes shared with his colleague Dr. Watson, once you eliminate all other possibilities, what's left, however improbable, must be the solution.

Indeed.

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Categorized: Windows PC Help (Article 3946, Written by Dave Taylor)
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Reader Comments To Date: 415

Plum said, on July 21, 2011 1:05 PM:

Fantastic advice!! I had the problem but only on my netbook and I struggled for hours, expecting to have to go to the computer shop to solve the problem. All working well now. Many thanks.

xavier said, on July 27, 2011 1:31 AM:

i had a problem with the certificates but i worked after changing the date thanks very much.

Altaf Hussain said, on August 9, 2011 8:44 AM:

Thanks Very Much........

Nazeer said, on August 13, 2011 11:34 AM:

Thank you bro.

madhu said, on August 16, 2011 5:21 AM:

The server's security certificate is not yet valid!

the above problems facing, but my system is not connected (yahoo mail) please rectify the above problems.

sumit said, on August 30, 2011 1:22 AM:

tx

PETE said, on August 31, 2011 1:03 AM:

HI DAVE, I`VE JUST BEEN READING THE COMMENTS ABOUT VARIOUS INVALID SECURITY CERTIFICATES..UP UNTIL A COUPLE OF MINUTES AGO I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH AOL SIGN IN AND DID`NT THINK ABOUT TO SEE IF MY PC`S CLOCK WAS OUT OF ZINC...IT WAS AND NOW IT`S NOT SO THANKS FOR THAT..WHY MY CLOCK DECIDED TO GO CONTINENTAL AND 9 YEARS AGO IS A MYSTERY BUT IT`S FINE NOW SO THANKS AGAIN.

Israel said, on August 31, 2011 6:42 PM:

i wrote my certification exam since last and didnt download it until this year but when i tried using the certification id i was given i was told that it was invalid please i need an urgent attention regarding this situation on how best to salvage this situation because i need to download those certificates. PLEASE SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED ASAP.

Catherine said, on September 5, 2011 12:26 AM:

OMG - this has been bugging me for a while now. I wondered why it said the cert wasn't valid till July. It turned out for what ever reason the date was had not updated - even though it was set to do so. Once I reset it (it thought it was June) all was fine. Since I don't show the date in the bar it never occurred to me it was wrong.

Vikash said, on September 6, 2011 7:24 PM:

So, my gf had this problem and I found a solution to it online here. ....Dang Broads lol

Georgia Lynch said, on September 11, 2011 2:24 PM:

Hey dave,Well on facebook i try to go on tinychat and it says "Not signed by a valid security certificate, and I Really Need My TinyChat report back ASAP

Thanks,Georgia<3

Nan said, on September 15, 2011 10:28 AM:

Thank you SO much! I couldn't figure out why all these messages were popping up telling me that the certificates were expired. (I got a good bit paranoid when I was logged into my Chase account and it happened!)I Googled "messages certificates expire" and clicked on this webpage. After I read it, I remembered that I'd checked the time and date a few days ago to see what day December 15th fell on. Apparently, I clicked the date and saved it. Thank you for saving me hours of time and worry. Much obliged! Kindest regards, Nan

John S. said, on September 25, 2011 10:52 PM:

Hi Dave -

My cousin's provider is Frontier. She is unable to get onto the web. Sometimes she gets a message that the security certificate is invalid. No one can seem to locate her problem. Even had a modem change. Can this security certificate thing keep her from getting onto the web? Thank you John S.

ayushife said, on September 29, 2011 10:00 AM:

i need help in updating my yahoo browser

Wanda Davis said, on November 4, 2011 7:55 PM:

I have saved articles in the "Favorite Section" but when I go to retrieve an article i get this comment every time "Article not found or expired on Yahoo News." Do you know why this is happening? Your help in getting this matter solved would be greatly appreciated.

Mags said, on November 14, 2011 8:22 AM:

Brilliant, that solution has saved me hours of frustration!

aLpiox said, on November 15, 2011 1:17 AM:

I am so thankful that I'd read this article,, the result --it's solved my problem.. thank you..

nancy said, on November 16, 2011 2:50 PM:

Thank you so much. Have spent two frustrating days without access to email at critical time. It never would have occurred to either my husband or me to check the date. I found I was one day and one year off. Changed the date and voila ... hotmail and facebook are back!

DHARMESH said, on November 19, 2011 11:25 PM:

great solution DAVE'S my friend. I heartly thanking you.

Swtpatsy said, on November 27, 2011 3:38 PM:

Wow' THIS IS AMAZING' I WAS GOING CRAZEE' PROBLEM FIXED !!! THANKS SOO MUCH !

Glen said, on November 28, 2011 8:10 PM:

Brilliant, was worrying me and confounding me. All good. Many thanks

Sherin said, on December 9, 2011 3:51 PM:

omg!!seriously??...tats all tat was! the date!..n ive been calling customer service all round da world n no one could help...im glad i googled n found this! :) thanks!

Anonymous said, on December 10, 2011 3:08 AM:

Hey I changed the time n date for so many times..but still it is not working, i cannot access my facebook nor gmail..!! whats wrong??..what should i do now???

Michael said, on December 16, 2011 9:01 PM:

Thank you for the information, indeed it solve my problem.

Terri said, on December 18, 2011 6:47 PM:

I have been struggling with this for almost 2 mos. Thanks for your help Dave and the invisible person who found the solution.

nikhil said, on December 20, 2011 7:54 AM:

I was going nuts
Thanks Dave for suggestion

ahill said, on December 21, 2011 4:07 PM:

THANK YOU! I was going inSANE!

Michael said, on December 23, 2011 8:58 AM:

I got the security error 80200010 when updating. It said update failed. I tried again and it updated. Does that mean that error was resolved Dave or do I need to do something else to get rid of it? Thanks Dave,
Mike D.

Srishti said, on January 1, 2012 7:37 AM:

YOU are undoubtedly one of the smartest people on this universe. Two of my friends, software engineers couldn't friggin tell HOW to get rid of it.
I don't know how to thank you, really.

jigs said, on January 3, 2012 9:31 AM:

thanks for the solution!

Gail Cooper said, on January 5, 2012 11:24 PM:

Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit. I had the SAME PROBLEM on my laptop, and saw that the date was January 1, 2001!

How it got this idea, I don't know: but thanks for keeping this post alive! I only wasted ten minutes on the problem. (All the rest of y'all have my deepest sympathies.)
Gail

Dave Taylor said, on January 5, 2012 11:27 PM:

"Butter my butt and call me a biscuit"? Um... okay. Hi Biscuit. :-)

selimatmaca said, on January 11, 2012 4:42 AM:

changing the date to the correct one fixed my problem.

Madhuka said, on January 11, 2012 9:13 AM:

thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

peter samuel said, on January 18, 2012 7:33 AM:

Thanks for this post, I also had thesame problem today and tried all i could without success. after reading your post i realise the system date was 2004 and after resetting it worked properly. thank you so much guys

John said, on January 18, 2012 7:55 PM:

Thanks I was in 2013!

MissMac said, on January 20, 2012 6:35 PM:

just wanted to say thank you!! such a simple solution for a very annoying error.

sheraz said, on January 21, 2012 8:20 PM:

stupidest thing in my life.it has bothering m for many days and whn will this problem can go.

Pringgo Brahmana said, on January 24, 2012 5:57 AM:

just wanted to say thank you so much!! now solve after 3 days error.

Deepthi said, on January 30, 2012 3:41 AM:

Thank you..

Mary said, on February 2, 2012 3:04 AM:

Thank you!! I was so worried that I'd been hacked.

Rea said, on February 2, 2012 10:42 AM:

I just had the same problem and got me very worried. I saw your site and checked, Yes!! The date was set for 2years ago (Don't know how it came that way though).

THANK YOU!!!

Pete said, on February 6, 2012 12:46 PM:

Clock is right on my computer, so that doesnt help...any other suggestions. THis is driving me crazy, for months now!

jess said, on February 6, 2012 11:43 PM:

you are a friggin genius!! THANK YOU!!

All my websites became unavailable so I bought a new anti virus, spent a week trying to validate my windows cert and got NO _WHERE.

All I did to fix all those problems was put the correct date!!

Thank you so much, you saved me from going crazy!!

Ron said, on February 13, 2012 11:13 AM:

Try updating root certificates by going to:

Start > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs

Add/Remove Windows Components
Scroll all the way down.
Check Update Root Certificates.
Next, Finish, Reboot.

George said, on February 13, 2012 7:13 PM:

Ok this is what it seem to have cause the problem (IN MY CASE).

I used google docs on my android mobile phone.
For some reason my mobile told google that i was in NY, then in CA. And they idiots (google) have now block me out(certification got messed up) whatever. Again this is stupid. All because they trying to monitor users on everything they do, who they are, what browser they use, where they are coming from.

I logged out form my google mobile, and still dont work... The problem only occurs when i log into google docs from my phone.

shivaji said, on February 22, 2012 12:24 AM:

thanks

GP said, on February 29, 2012 6:27 AM:

My date and time are correct! Get this error on all my computers with Firefox and Google Chrome, but IE works fine.

Charles said, on February 29, 2012 12:57 PM:

I'm having a problem accessing https sites. My computer date and time is correct. I've tried three differnt browsers, i've tried reinstalling browsers, I've tried clearing stored info, and the ssl slate. Operating sys win7 64bit. Any ideas?

GP said, on February 29, 2012 6:57 PM:

Mine is working now! Strange....

Sherrell said, on March 5, 2012 2:26 PM:

Thanks so much I am one of those who has to google everything & thank the Lord I found my answer. You are sooo appreciated & I am so grateful.

Cheeztor said, on March 6, 2012 2:21 PM:

Bravo! worked like a charm

dw said, on March 13, 2012 10:57 AM:

I just helped a guy in a Starbucks fix this issue with your solution!!!
Big thanks for your help and keeping this post at the top of the search results!!

dr said, on March 16, 2012 8:42 PM:

BAMMMM! problem solved.....
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

zobaer said, on March 19, 2012 7:09 AM:

thank u very much,it really works!I was so tensed!

zobaer said, on March 19, 2012 7:11 AM:

thanks!it works!

ash said, on March 22, 2012 12:40 PM:

dude u r the man thanks a ton god knows what all would have i tried had i not struck onto this website.thanks a ton man u have saved me from hell lot of work truly thanks from the deepest corner of my heart.
never ever forget u...

sanju sarkar said, on March 24, 2012 2:10 AM:

The server security certificate is not yet valid
sir please solved it ,

sanju sarkar said, on March 24, 2012 2:14 AM:

The server security certificate is not yet valid .please help me .

Sidharth said, on March 24, 2012 2:36 AM:

Thank you so much for your help Dave. It solved my problem.

Nobal said, on March 24, 2012 11:18 AM:

Thank you so much. I was doing everything to solve the problem, looking for the certificate to get rid of the problem, thinking of formatting the system. But when I gone through your notes, that's works. Thank you my friend.

Nobs said, on March 24, 2012 11:22 AM:

Thank you so much. I was doing everything to solve the problem, looking for the certificate to get rid of the problem, thinking of formatting the system. But when I gone through your notes and changed the year from 2005 to 2012, that's works. That's really worked. Thank you my friend.

rajashekar reddy said, on March 27, 2012 10:54 AM:

Thanks A lot

Irfan said, on March 28, 2012 7:30 AM:

Thanks man.

Marty said, on March 28, 2012 10:52 AM:

Thanks for the fix - couldn't access FB becasue security certificate expired. Googled your solution - found that my computer had the date set as September 2012. Changed it to correct date and fixed problem!

Sytse said, on March 28, 2012 2:02 PM:

I can give you 1 tip:
If you want your computer to be safe from malware and heuristic virusses DONT use AVG. That anti-virus doesnt recognise the newest malware/heuristics anymore unless you pay for an advanced version.
Besides that AVG slows down the computer like Norton does since the first 2012 update.
(use Avira or Kaspersky instead to be more satisfied ;))

Vickie said, on March 31, 2012 10:45 AM:

Thanks Dave!

Rena said, on April 4, 2012 9:28 AM:

My electricity blinked last night and my computer reset itself to 2004. I never would have thought to check. Now I know why my outlook was so confused and why I was getting invalid security certificate warnings at Hotmail. Thanks!

Jennifer said, on April 5, 2012 7:44 AM:

this has made me a very popular "newbie" at work... managing to fix a problem that had even driven the boss insane! thank you thank you thank you.

karl said, on April 7, 2012 10:28 AM:

i cant access facebook because it says the server presented an invalid certificate, ive looked at my date and its all the right stuff, re synced it anyway and followed pretty much every useful tip in the other comments, still wont work, help me?

praveen said, on April 14, 2012 12:47 AM:

I will have a problems with security certificates. l have tried the few tips above and nothing works. This problem started when i today opening gmail,facebook . Any help would be appreciated

anbu said, on April 21, 2012 10:54 AM:

Thanks for the fix - couldn't access FB becasue security certificate expired. Googled your solution - found that my computer had the date set as September 2012. Changed it to correct date and fixed problem! thanks once again

venkatreddy said, on May 2, 2012 10:47 PM:

not open gmail

clifferd said, on May 5, 2012 7:43 AM:

thank you :)

Robiek Uganda said, on May 13, 2012 11:25 PM:

Realities of life never end, just read Dave's post of the Gent who figured it out on his own and did just that, i was back on track, no more security certificate error. Thanks

gandalf said, on May 25, 2012 10:07 AM:

I am SOOOOOO grateful for this post. We've been having issues with this for months and just kept 'continuing to website' unable to fix the problem. Hey presto, following this post we checked the date and discovered eldest son had changed date to make it christmas time in an online game so that santa would come and give him extra presents!!!! He got the extra present of a little talking to about messing with the family computer!!!!
Thanks!

Mellie said, on May 25, 2012 10:41 AM:

When I am logged into pinterest (there's an option to log in using your facebook account, but I do not use that option), I receive a pop up box: Safari can't verify the identity of the website "s-static.ak.facebook.com". It has the options: 1)Show cert 2) Cancel 3) Continue. I've tried all 3 but lately have been pressing "cancel" until I load the next page and it pops up again. I use an imac and I'm not even on facebook. Other times "Invalid URl" page comes up and I can't even get to the website at all. This happens with pinterest or facebook mostly. Do you know what it could be?

sandor g said, on May 26, 2012 9:59 AM:

Thanks for the great help. I had this problem for weeks on my desktop. I had to use my notebook for other sites. No where could I find any help until I read this. I did it and in 2 minutes it was resolved. I'm bookmarking this site for further use. Thanks again.

Maryn Yamahar said, on May 29, 2012 6:59 PM:

thank you so much for sharing your learning to us. It's been a great help to me, really.. Thank you.. =)

Dustin Boyle said, on June 5, 2012 1:19 PM:

thank you so much, this solved my problem!

Natalia said, on June 21, 2012 7:09 PM:

Thank you so very much for your suggestions! I have been trying everything possible to fix this problem, and then I realized that my date was set for 2011!!! Now everything is working, and all the sites are available - I can't thank you enough!

NIDHI said, on June 25, 2012 2:30 AM:

hey thanks, :) :) Really it works!!

Masleana Mas'od said, on June 29, 2012 4:43 AM:

Hi so so much to this men who help me fix my problem on my lappy which certifate error keep on popping up.when i change my date all the problem really fix and vanished like i am making magic hehehe...thank you so much you brillant =)

masleana mas'od

MrSuaveh said, on July 2, 2012 12:36 PM:

SERIOUSLY?

There are that many people out there who have f'ed up system dates on their computer and didn't know it?

Really? Do their calendars work? Don't they ever save a file and then go, hey I just saved it why is the date file stamp yesterday?

I don't believe it!

Missy E Gunn said, on July 4, 2012 5:36 PM:

I think I shall call you God .... THANK-YOU

mimo said, on July 8, 2012 12:26 PM:

YOU ARE FANTASTIC! BRILLIANT! it really works! thankss!! :D

kiran kale said, on August 8, 2012 12:07 PM:

i too had the same problem. while reading each comment about successful solution of date correctness i checked my date each time which was correct. finally i checked my google chrome settings. there i checked "check for server certification revocation" which was at first place unchecked. this worked for me. hope if anybody find such problem which is not fixing even after correcting the time try this. it may work for u as well.

Carmela said, on September 10, 2012 11:40 AM:

This problem came up this weekend. Website security certificate. Went to Best Buys and talked to the Geek Squad. Sure enough they had a simple answer. Your computers date and time are off and does not match the certificate date. For me this worked. If it does not work you need to replace a battery in your computer. Cost at Best Buys about $4.00.

priyank said, on September 12, 2012 7:53 AM:

it's time problem in your computer check your computer time

Lance Shaw said, on September 16, 2012 8:26 PM:

Hi Dave Wow we went from near tears to joy in a couple of minutes, with your check the date advise. Yippee!!! Days of research work is now back! Thanks a heap, Peace and harmony Lance

Zubair said, on September 21, 2012 9:28 AM:

hahahah....!! after reading the solution I just looked down on the date and time and felt so stupid hahaha....
thanks a lot

Malcolm L. Campbell said, on October 1, 2012 1:49 PM:

What if the time and date are right and you still get a message saying " This site has not been signed by a valid security certificate"?

Bob Cleary said, on October 8, 2012 2:44 PM:

Dave thanks for your help in fixing my security cdrtificate problem. I have another, my HP Photosmart 7510 printer, prints only the top half of the first page and spits out blank pages there after. I am running Windows Vista Home as my operating system.

kim said, on October 21, 2012 4:23 PM:

Thank you so much for this answer! Solved our problem!!

Emerico Pereira said, on October 29, 2012 11:28 PM:

login.yahoo.com uses an invalid security certificate.

varun said, on November 3, 2012 11:01 AM:

i too had the same problem and when i see the solution for this i'm damn shocked that my date and time were wrong.....thank you

Gabe said, on November 9, 2012 6:30 PM:

I LOVE YOU. I have been lookingfor this for weeks

wilson said, on November 24, 2012 12:10 AM:

Yo check your if you date and times is correct it will solve the problem try it

Hall said, on December 1, 2012 12:12 AM:

I fix date and time of my computer, the problems of invalid certificate resolved

municipality said, on December 3, 2012 1:03 AM:

The site's security certificate has expired!
You attempted to reach mail.google.com, but the server presented an expired certificate. No information is available to indicate whether that certificate has been compromised since its expiration. This means Google Chrome cannot guarantee that you are communicating with mail.google.com and not an attacker. Your computer's clock is currently set to Thursday, March 30, 2073 11:25:05 AM. Does that look right? If not, you should correct the error and refresh this page.
You cannot proceed because the website operator has requested heightened security for this domain.

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

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I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Invalid or Expired Security Certificate?

Reader Comments To Date: 415

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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