Windows Vista can't access https websites

Hi,

My friend Tommy has an Acer Aspire 5315 with an Intel Celeron 550 CPU and 1GB RAM. It runs Windows Vista HomeBasic Service Pack 2. He got the computer in the United Kingdom but now lives in Australia.

He wants to access his hotmail email and facebook, but cannot.

Normal http websites such as http://google.com/ work fine for him. However, it seems that whenever he tries to use a website using a https connection he gets a "Internet Explorer cannot display this webpage" or equivalent.

He connects via a Huawei E585 Pocket Wifi device - this connects to wifi and then retransmits a wireless internet connection to his computer. He gets his internet via Vodafone Australia. I have a similar device - a Vivid wireless ViViFi N420. He can also connect through this. His problems occur for both devices. My internet works fine on my computer using my device. Therefore it is not a modem problem and is a problem internal to his laptop.

All his problems occur in the same manner for Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. Therefore it is not a browser-specific problem.

I have disabled Windows Firewall. He still gets the error messages.

He does not *seem* to have a firewall installed, although he does have AVG free anti-virus installed.

AVG's vault shows that he has been hit by at least 4 trojans in the past.

His computer is incredibly slow - both in processing and with the internet. My internet is also slow, so this is likely due to a poor ISP.

Websites that work:

http://google.com/

http://news.google.com.au/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn

http://login.live.com

http://facebook.com

Websites that don't work:

https://mail.google.com/mail/?tab=wm (i.e. clicking on 'Mail' from the google homepage)

https://login.live.com/ppsecure/post.srf?bk=1336377356 (i.e. as soon as he hits 'Sign In' on the windows live login page)

https://www.facebook.com/login.php?login_attempt=1 (i.e. as soon as he tries to login on facebook)

In addition the microsoft fixits found at places like:

http://support.microsoft.com/mats/windows_firewall_diagnostic

seem to download but don't run.

Any ideas on what might be wrong and how to fix it?

Thanks!

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Answer

Srinivas KR

Hi,

1. What is the version of Internet Explorer you are using?

2. Did you make any changes to the computer prior to the issue?

Please follow the methods listed below.

Method 1:

Follow the steps from the link mentioned below.

NOTE: The Reset Internet Explorer Settings feature might reset security settings or privacy settings that you added to the list of Trusted Sites. The Reset Internet Explorer Settings feature might also reset parental control settings. We recommend that you note these sites before you use the Reset Internet Explorer Settings feature

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956196

Method 2:

Follow the steps from the link mentioned below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813444

Method 3:

Follow the steps from the link mentioned below.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967897