How To Fix Your Connection Is Not Private Error
You surely came across the Connection Is Not Private error whenever you’re trying to visit a website. We know what brought you here. 95% of the time, people close the tab whenever they see this type of message. But we are glad that you searched for the solution. You need to know that this issue is related to the website you’re trying to visit, it has nothing to do with your computer. So don’t freak out. In this guide, you’ll learn all there is to know about how to fix your connection is not private error in 9 simple ways.
What Is “Your Connection Is Not Private” Error?
Is it essential for you to know what “your connection is not private error” is? The thing is, if you just ignore this type of warning, one day, you might lose all your data. Yet, it isn’t that dangerous. The Your Connection Is Not Private message comes from your browser informing you that you should not use this website. And if you still visit that site, then you’re putting your device in danger.
So, why is your browser preventing you? Because when you click on a website, your browser first validates the website’s security certificate, verifying that it is safe to visit. And if it is deemed suspicious which means that the security certificate is not standard, it will display this message. Don’t put your personal data at risk.
Why Do You See the “Your Connection Is Not Private” Error Message?
As we mentioned above, your browser checks the security certificate beforehand when you click on the site. It checks that your personal information, such as passwords and payment methods, will not be compromised. For this reason, for the e-commerce site, it’s also highly important that the online payment gateway service is secure and trustworthy.
There’s a particular reason why this Your Connection Is Not Private message is displayed to you. Generally, this error depends on the SSL certificate on the website you want to visit. If your browser detects a problem with the SSL certificate, it will immediately stop you from visiting that site and it will display this error message Your Connection Is Not Private. However, there are several reasons why you get this message. One of the reasons may be that the site owner did not set up the SSL properly, or perhaps it has expired. Now if you visit that site, there will be no guarantee whether your data will be protected or not.
Another reason could be that your browser setting is not letting you visit that site. Although changing the browser won’t resolve the problem, in some cases it may work. Before we head to the solutions, give a look at how the Your Connection Is Not Private Error looks like on different browsers.
How Different Browsers Show The “Your Connection Is Not Private” Error
Since various browsers display different written errors, we included examples of how the error appears in some well-known browsers.
Microsoft Edge
Google Chrome
Mozilla Firefox
Safari
How To Fix Your Connection Is Not Private Error? (Windows & Mac)
If one method doesn’t work, then you can try the others as well. Either of them will 100% solve your problem.
1. Have you checked your computer’s clock?
This is one of the most common reasons that cause your connection is not private error. You must check your computer’s clock because oftentimes the date and time might be inaccurate with your current date & time. This happens because in cases when you purchase a new device that doesn’t synchronize time & date automatically after the first login. Follow the steps below to update the date & time.
Windows:
- Go to the taskbar and RIGHT CLICK on the date and time.
- Click on the second option “Adjust date/time”.
- Turn on the option “Set time automatically” and “Set time zone automatically.”
- The time and date will be set according to your country.
- Check the time & date, if it hasn’t been set yet, then do it manually by clicking on the “Change” button.
Apple Mac:
- Go to the Apple menu and click on “System Preferences”.
- Click on the Date & Time icon.
- Now, select “date and time automatically”. This will update according to your country’s date & time.
- If it doesn’t detect your location automatically, you can manually set it by unchecking the date and time.
2. Restart Your Router & PC
You may have heard that restarting the system is the solution for 90% of all issues. It seems simple and ridiculous, but it works. Restarting devices actually clears out a lot of temporary caches and other problems. The same goes with the Routers. It’s recommended to restart your router to fix Your Connection Is Not Private type issues.
How could this be a viable solution? Your router is a kind of operating system that occasionally gets hot and becomes buggy. Restarting the router can easily solve a lot of problems – may improve the internet speed, lower pings, and other connection issues. One thing to bear in mind is to wait for a few seconds before you turn your router on. Giving it a few seconds will allow your router to completely clear its memory and reset any failed tasks.
3. Just clear the browser’s cache and cookies?
When was the last time you cleared the cache and cookies? Whenever you browse the internet, your browser stores the cookie and cache data on your PC. Cleaning cookies and caches can sometimes solve a variety of problems.
You can speed up your connections by clearing all of your settings, cache, and cookies.
4. Check if there’s an update on your OS
You always have to run your system on the latest OS update. Running on the latest updates not only solves this issue but also saves you from a lot of security bugs and malware. Running with an older version of OS causes trouble in communicating with your browser. As a result, it won’t be able to tell you whether a website is safe to visit.
5. Cou may need to change your DNS servers
Still, if your problem isn’t solved then you must try this. You need to check if your DNS server is set to Google’s (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare’s DNS (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1). Then you can consider removing this and set it to default. Removing this and defaulting back to your ISP’s DNS servers can help solve the issue. Google and Cloudflare aren’t flawless all of the time. To change this setting back to default follow the footsteps:
PATH: Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network Connections
- Go to the control panel.
- Select Network and Internet and then select Network Connections.
- Here you have to select the connected Ethernet.
- Click the properties.
- Just ensure that “Obtain DNS server address automatically” is selected.
- Click on the Internet Protocol Version IPV4.
- Now, consider removing Google’s Public DNS or Cloudflare’s DNS from your router.
6. Try incognito mode
In all browsers, there’s an incognito mode, where you can browse privately without storing any site’s data on your computer. You can try to access that website into incognito, if it’s still showing you the same error then you better clear your cache and cookies. You can use this shortcut Ctrl + Shift + N in Chrome and Microsoft Edge to go incognito.
In Apple’s Mac, press Command + Shift + N. Now in many other browsers like Mozilla Firefox, you need to press
“Ctrl + Shift + P”.
7. Are you using some Antivirus software?
Antivirus also could be the reason why you keep getting Your Connection Is Not Private message. Many antivirus software blocks SSL certificates or connections. Though, there’s no need to change your antivirus. You can either stop the SSL scanning feature or you can pause your antivirus for a while. Now try to access that site and check if there’s a message or not.
8. Clear SSL state on your PC
You may not have heard of this strategy, but it can help you resolve your connection is not private error. It’s very simple to implement this method.
- Just go to the Google Chrome setting.
- Now go to the advanced settings.
- Find “Change proxy settings” under Network and click on it.
- An internet properties dialog box will open.
- Click on Content Tab where you’ll find “clear SSL slate”.
- Simply click to clear it, and restart your Chrome.
9. Check whether the site’s SSL certificate has expired or not
An SSL certificate is not the thing that you can purchase for a lifetime. This certificate is valid for a limited period of time on your site (1-2 years), you need to renew the certificate after every 1-2 years. Sometimes the site owner forgets to renew it because the owner doesn’t have auto-renew enabled.
But how to check the expiration date?
There’s an easy way to do it.
- Go to the Address bar and click on the padlock.
- Click on Certificate, and you’ll see the Valid from date.
Simple isn’t it?
Last Words On How To Fix Your Connection Is Not Private
We hope this article managed to clear out all your concerns about how to fix Your Connection Is Not Private. The above-listed solutions are “tried & tested”, so they all work 100%. Now, you can also help others in your surrounding who get this message often – just share this guide with them. If we missed something or if you know other methods to fix this issue, we’d love to know your thoughts.
We hope this article was helpful. If you liked it, feel free to check out some of these articles as well!