In general none of the ISP
providers are obligated to help you with this - if you can open a web
page, that is as far as their tech support will go. Your PC
manufacturer will NOT help you with this issue. And your last resort -
Microsoft, will charge you for live tech support approximately $35/h...
So, to avoid hours of arguing with tech support reps, here is what you
have to do to fix this type of problem:
DELETE THE TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES To delete the temporary Internet files, follow these steps:
1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the General tab.
3. Under Temporary Internet files, click Delete Cookies.
4. Click OK when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
5. Click Delete Files.
6. Click OK when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
7. Under History, click Clear History.
8. Click Yes when you are prompted to delete your history of visited Web sites.
9. Click OK.
CONFIGURE SECURITY, CONTENT, AND ADVANCED SETTINGS IN INTERNET EXPLORER
To configure security, content, and advanced settings in Internet
Explorer, follow these steps:
1.
Configure the security settings for the Trusted sites zone in Internet
Explorer. To do this, follow these steps: a. In Internet Explorer, on
the Tools menu, click Internet Options, and then click the Security tab
b. Click Trusted sites, and then click Default Level. c. Add the SSL
Secured (128-Bit) Web site to the Trusted sites zone. To do this, click
Sites, type the URL of the site in the Add this Web site to the zone
box, click Add, click OK, and then click Apply.
2. Clear the
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) state and AutoComplete history. To do this,
follow these steps: a. Click the Content tab. b. Under Certificates,
click Clear SSL State. c. Click OK when you receive the message that
the SSL cache was successfully cleared. d. Under Personal information,
click AutoComplete. e. Under Clear AutoComplete history, click Clear
Forms, and then click OK when you are prompted to confirm the
operation. f. Click Clear Passwords, click OK when you are prompted to
clear all previously saved passwords, and then click OK two times.
3. Verify that Internet Explorer is configured to use SSL 2.0 and SSL
3.0. To do this, follow these steps: a. Click the Advanced tab. b.
Under Security in the Settings box, 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 To verify that your computer is configured with
the correct date and time settings, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
2. Click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Date and Time.
3. Click the Date & Time tab.
4. Make sure that the date and time settings are configured to use the current date and time, and then click OK.
VERIFY THAT YOUR COMPUTER IS USING 128-bit
ENCRIPTION To verify that your computer is using 128-bit encryption,
follow these steps:
1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. On the Help menu, click About Internet Explorer.
3. The level of encryption on your computer appears next to the words
Cipher Strength. Verify that the Cipher Strength value appears as
128-bit.
4. Click OK.
USE SYSTEM RESTORE TO RETURN YOUR COMPUTER TO A PREVIOUS STATE The
System Restore feature in Windows XP takes a "snapshot" of critical
system files and some program files and stores this information as
restore points. You can use these restore points to return Windows XP
to a previous state.
VERIFY THE
CONFIGURATION OF YOUR THIRD-PARTY FIREWALL OR ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS Make
sure that third-party firewall or antivirus programs that are installed
on your computer are configured correctly and are not preventing you
from connecting to security-enhanced Web sites. For more information,
see the product documentation, or contact the program vendor.
USE THE SYSTEM FILE CHECKER (Sfc.exe) TOOL TO SCAN
ALL Windows File Protection (WFP)-PROTECTED FILES Use System File
Checker with the /scannow parameter to immediately scan and verify the
versions of all the system files that Windows File Protection helps
protect. If System File Checker discovers that such a file was
overwritten, it retrieves the correct version of the file from the
cache folder (SystemrootSystem32Dllcache) or from the Windows
installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file. System
File Checker also checks and repopulates the cache folder. You must be
logged on as an administrator or as a member of the Administrators
group to run System File Checker. To run System File Checker with the
/scannow parameter, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, type sfc /scannow, and then press ENTER.
VERIFY THAT THE Microsoft Cryptographic Services
SERVICE IS STARTED To verify that the Cryptographic Services service is
started, or to start it if it is not already started, follow these
steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, type net start cryptsvc, and then press ENTER.
4. Type exit to quit Command Prompt.
RE-REGISTER .dll files Re-register the following
.dll files: Softpub.dll Wintrust.dll Initpki.dll Dssenh.dll Rsaenh.dll
Gpkcsp.dll Sccbase.dll Slbcsp.dll Cryptdlg.dll To re-register these
files, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.
3. At the command prompt, type the following lines and press ENTER
after each line: regsvr32 softpub.dll regsvr32 wintrust.dll regsvr32
initpki.dll regsvr32 dssenh.dll regsvr32 rsaenh.dll regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll regsvr32 slbcsp.dll regsvr32 cryptdlg.dll
4. Click OK when you receive the message that DllRegisterServer in FileName succeeded.
5. Type exit.
CREATE A NEW USER PROFILE You may not be able to
locate SSL Secured (128-Bit) Web sites if your Windows user profile is
damaged. To troubleshoot, log on to the computer as another user and
try to connect to a SSL Secured (128-Bit) Web site. If you can connect
to SSL Secured (128-Bit) Web sites when you are logged in as a
different user, your user profile may be corrupted. To resolve the
problem, back up the information and settings that you want from your
profile (for example, the My Documents and Favorites folders), and then
delete the damaged profile. To delete a user profile, follow these
steps:
1. Log on to the computer as Administrator or as a member of the Administrators group.
2. Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
3. Click Performance and Maintenance, and then click System.
4. Click the Advanced tab, and then under User Profiles, click Settings.
5. In the Profiles stored on this computer list, click the user profile that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
6. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
7. Click OK two times, and then quit Control Panel.
8. Log off the computer as Administrator, and then log on as the user. Windows creates a new profile for the user.
NOTE: Alternatively, you may want to create a new user, and then copy
the data from your old profile to the profile of the new user.