Unable to open security websites

[Abdullah30]

Hello, I am facing an unusual problem with my desktop computer which is running on the Windows XP. I am using Mozilla firefox to browse the Internet. The problem is I am unable to open any Security website like symantec.com on my browser. Every time I try to visit symantec.com, the browser returns a connection timed out page. All the other sites open without any problems. Can this be because of some virus? Or is this some browser related problem?

[Techno01]

Check if the firewall of your computer is on or not. Many security websites do not open if the resident firewall is active. This happens because many of the security websites scan the system for installed antivirus application which is considered as a threat by the Firewall and hence is blocked. Disabling the Firewall will allow the site to scan your computer and load the site. If you dont want to disable the firewall then simply add the website in the trusted websites section. This will enable you to visit the website with the firewall turned on as firewall will not block the traffic coming from the website.

[deveritt]

There is a high possibility that the browser you are using has got corrupt and hence not allowing you to visit the Websites. Try opening the security websites in some other browser like Safari or Google chrome and see if the site is opening or not. If the websites open in other browser then uninstall Mozilla firefox and remove all the files which are related to it. You can continue using some other browser or you can download the latest version of Mozilla available and install it on the computer. After reinstalling the browser you will not get the error again.

[johnson22]

Some websites have security certificates which do not have trusted roots. Check the preferences of the browser and see if it allows to visit the Website which do not have security certificates having trusted roots. If the browser is enabled to block the sites which do not have trusted roots then disable this feature and see if the website opens. You can also move the website to trusted website tabs so that the browser will not check for the security certificates and directly load the website.

[arturro]

I think the system is infected with some kind of Virus which is not allowing the pages from security websites. There are many virus's which affect the installation of the browser by affecting the files which are used by it. If such a virus affects the browser installation, it changes the browser preferences such that the browser does not load the pages from the Security websites. Scan your system with some updated antivirus and check if any of the files are infected. If the files are found to infected, repair or quarantine them and see if the browser can load the webpages from the Security websites.

[Ricky58]

This behavior is quite similar to a Browser Hijack. In Browser Hijack the files which decide the preferences of the browser are replaced so that the browser blocks or redirects if some specific website is tried to visit. To be sure that it is browser hijack, you can try to visit the same website from a different browser and see if it opens. The site would open as the browser hijack only targets the Default browser and not all the browsers which are installed on the system. To overcome the browser hijack, you will have to download a application known as Malware Bytes and run it on the system in safe mode. When the system is free from trojans, uninstall the affected browser and then install it again.