My Mac can't establish secure connections.

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My Mac can't establish secure connections.

I can no longer establish secure connections to websites, dropbox will no longer sync and after twenty or so minutes internet browsers stop loading pages. However Skype still works and I can still access the iTunes store and download things. There are three other accounts on my Mac but they have not experienced any of these problems. It started a month or two ago when I downloaded an update for Growl (a notification system) but I have since completely deleted it from my Mac and the problem persists. I believe it must be a problem with my Mac as I also have an iPod and it has experienced none of these problems. I hope this is enough information, any advice?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 5:42 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

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85,372 points

Apr 26, 2011 6:14 AM in response to Red Helix

If you are posting to Apple Discussions, you are posting to a secure connection. Note the https:// in the link above.

That means, the problem is with the website in question.

And if the problem is with the website in question, their authentication scheme is not secure and should not be used.

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Answer 2

Red Helix Author

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Apr 26, 2011 6:25 AM in response to a brody

Interesting point, the problem usually occurs when I attempt to log in to an account, the main one being blogger. Also if the problem is the website why can I still access it from my iPod? I've never had any problems accessing a website from my iPod.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,372 points

Apr 26, 2011 9:07 AM in response to Red Helix

Perhaps the security on the iPod isn't as tightly controlled as it is on the Mac itself. You have to remember the iPod also does not typically load as many pieces of the website as a computer does, since you can't fit the entire screen on the iPod. Furthermore, and here is an interesting point, the iPod doesn't support Flash. So anything insecure about Adobe Flash on the website won't make itself known to the iPod, since it isn't being loaded.

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Answer 4

Red Helix Author

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Apr 26, 2011 10:58 AM in response to a brody

Hmm, again interesting, but it doesn't solve my problem. This only started a month or two ago, before that everything worked perfectly, including Dropbox. Do you have any ideas why that won't work? Also I remembered something else, as I mentioned in my original post all internet browsers stop working after twenty or so minutes, but I discovered that if I log out of my account and then log back in after a minute or two it'll work again for another twenty minutes or so. Finally, it turns out I took too long to write this response because the first time I tried to submit it a received a message telling me that my computer could no longer establish a secure connection to the server. So that kind of messes up your point about it just being certain websites.

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Answer 5

Red Helix Author

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Apr 26, 2011 12:51 PM in response to a brody

Ah, you may be on to something, I quickly went onto another one of the accounts and I was able to access the websites I can't on this side. I have three more points to add. First of all a question: how would I go about changing the firewall settings? Because I don't recall ever changing them before. Secondly: I probably should've mentioned this before but I only just remembered that my Mac is running an older version of OS X, It's V. 10.5.8. Could that be making a difference? Finally, I know the problem hasn't been resolved yet but I'd like to thank you for all of the help you're giving me, you've been at this for about six hours now going by the times on your posts and it's really appreciated. 🙂

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