Intermittent acces to secure Web sites

Question

I have what seems to be an unusual problem.  On booting the PC, I can access secure Web sites without any difficulty.  However, after a period of time, I lose the ability to access secure Web sites and get 'This page cannot be displayed' error messages.  However, I can then still access unsecured Web sites without any issues.  The problem with accessing secure sites can always be solved by rebooting.  I have no clue what causes me to lose the ability to access secure sites.  Sometimes, I have been cut off in the middle of chat sessions with tech support that take place over secure connections.   I have searched the Web for a fix, but the literature focuses on people who cannot ever access secure sites.  I don't think these tweaks would be appropriate, because I can access the sites until my ability to do so suddenly cuts out on me.   For the record, I have a Dimension 2400 with Windows XP and have Internet Explorer 6.0 (reset to its defaults to the extent that I could), Norton Antivirus 2005, and the free ZoneAlarm firewall.  My ISP is AOL and I am running AOL 9.0 SE.  Note that a clean reinstall of the AOL software, preceded by a whole raft of tweaks suggested by AOL tech support, did not resolve the problem.   Any ideas are gratefully appreciated!

bacillus · Answer

if you are in the UK and using AOL broadband then you'll need to set your mtu to 1400.

wouldbegeek · Answer

Thanks.  I should have included the fact that I'm in the U.S.

BBraxton · Answer

Have you tried disabling Zone Alarm? Perhaps any other Firewall or Internet security (as a troubleshooting step, just to see if behavior changes -- not necessarily permanently). Are you on DSL? Cable?

wouldbegeek · Answer

Good thought. I haven't tried disabling ZoneAlarm because I am reluctant to be on the Internet without a firewall, but maybe I could enable the Windows firewall in the meantime. Believe it or not, I am still on dial-up because we also have a balky old Dimension L550 that I would not dream of trying to connect to a home network. We will retire it and go broadband with a new Dell in a few months.

Thanks very much for your suggestion.

BBraxton · Answer

A professor here has (at home) perhaps that very same Dimension (Windows 98) and is happily connected to ComCast in Alexandria, VA
The reason I know is that I have rescued the concents of his hard drive, installing a new replacement hdd

wouldbegeek · Answer

Just for the record, the problem was greatly ameliorated when I switched from Norton to McAfee antivirus and disappeared completely when I switched from AOL dialup to Verizon DSL.  Must have just been application incompatibilities.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Intermittent acces to secure Web sites

Was this post helpful?