ARCHIVED: Why am I unable to access secure web sites I have been to before?

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Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer come with CA security certificates from such agencies as Thawte and Verisign. These certificates are needed to gain access to secure web sites. If you are using an older browser, your CA certificates may expire. If that happens, your browser will display a series of warnings.

For browsers earlier than Netscape 4.0 and Internet Explorer 3.03 for Windows, CA certificates issued by Thawte expired in July 1998. The current Thawte certificates are valid until the year 2020. In versions of Netscape 4.0.5 or earlier and Internet Explorer 4.5 or earlier for Mac OS, certificates issued by Verisign expired at the end of December 1999. Verisign's new certificates are valid until 2010.

In some cases, if you just renew your certificates without upgrading your browser, your browser may continue to display warnings. This is a nuisance, but does not indicate a problem. Upgrading your browser to the latest version will get rid of the messages.

For more information about certificate expiration, see the following sites:

  http://www.thawte.com/support/rollover.html

  http://www.verisign.com/server2/cus/rootcert/faq.html

This is document agkh in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2023-09-22 17:08:36.