Q: safari can't establish a secure connection

Thanks the web shield was the issue. I disabled it and now everything works!!!

i just disabled the avast web shield and everything is fine now !  thanks !

Stay safe - avoid completely disabling your antivirus applications and/or the web shield features. Make the smallest changes first, then turn things off only if absolutely necessary.

Instead, check your AV app for a place/way to specify safe sites. In my case, I could not get to a banking site. I suspect the problem is that they are using SSL, not TLS for securing their server, but regardless, here is the step I took that fixed my problem (had the same error about Safari can't establish a secure connection):

1. Open the AV app
2. Look for settings or preferences (Avast: Preferences)
3. Locate the web configuration section (Avast: Web Shield)
4. Locate the configuration change feature (Avast: Settings)
5. Locate the add trusted site feature (Avast: "+" symbol)
6. Type the server name; for example, "www.news.com", or "www.appleheadaches.com", or "geewhiz.org".
7. Select whether it's a regular http site or a secure https site. Hint: if it's causing headaches, it's probably an https site.
8. Save the new site (Avast: click the Add button).
9. Profit!!!

That fixed my problem in seconds. I no longer get the Safari connection error; I get to the site I was trying to load in the first place.

And my security controls are still in place, keeping my a$$ out of trouble!

Hope this helps!

You may want to turn your web shield back on, but add the site you're having trouble with to the trusted sites. Obviously, make sure you trust the site! ;-) See my longer answer in this thread from today.

Be safe - see my longer answer in this thread from today.

This might be solve the issue of connecting to those websites, but there might be another problem underlying that we are just masking it with this method.

I had the Avast in place with webshield with no problem connecting to those websites. I then connected to an unsecured wifi network and after that I experienced the same problem. I can get around the problem by disabling the webshield on Avast. But I am afraid there is still some spyware hanging around stealing the information I am exchanging with those websites.

It became more of a concern when I installed AVG Antivirus and there is that same problem with the webshield. Enabling it causes the problem and disabling it gives the same type of error.

Any ideas?

Uninstall all your anti-virus software using the developer's uninstall instructions. The software isn't needed on a Mac and often hurts the computer's performance.

Avast

Avast Un-install

AVG Uninstall

Had one website that I could not connect to. Tried using Safari, Chrome and Firefox. Nothing worked. The technical people at the website could not figure it out. I also have Avast antivirus and when I disabled the Web Shield I could get into the site. Thanks for your post.

I agree with akmason. I also believe that a Mac should be protected. I followed his instructions in Avast and now, even with Web Shields enabled, I am able to log into the site that I was blocked from before. Thanks for the detailed instructions, they were easy to follow.

Just took off the advast web shield and now have access to all websites.  So odd.  I did do an update/install right before it happened .... wonder if that had anything to do with it?  Also had been using advast with no problems prior to this issue.

Your Mac already is protected by the in-house Gatekeeper.  You don't need third-party AV programs.  You just don't.  You may think you do, but either you're coming from a PC where they actually are necessary and you're just accustomed to having one on your system or you've been following unhelpful advice from other people.  They suck up valuable resources scanning your computer for Windows viruses — you're not running Windows, you're running Mac OS X.  Exactly what viruses do you think they're looking for?

yyes, this was spot on and everything is working fine now

I have exactly this same problem (specifically "Safari can't establish a secure connection to the server "www.google.com"). Alarmingly, I have the same problem on another Mac on the same network at the same time, so I changed the wi-fi network (I have two) but to no avail – still doesn't work. Tried pretty much everything: rebooting the router, restarting computers and Safari, changing prefs. Still can't get on to Google or Google Maps.

Could the problem be with Google even though the website isitdownrightnow.com shows Google working OK?

I should add that I'm not running any anti-virus software.

Safari - Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues

Safari doesn't load a page or webpage items are missing

Safari/other browsers – Website not loading

Thanks Eric, but none of the suggestions in the links worked for me.

I should also add that exactly the same thing is happening in Firefox, with the message "Secure connection failed".