Google Chrome is one of the most trusted and used browsers, due to its efficiency and reliability. People across the globe tend to use it daily to surf the internet, hoping to find answers to their queries, tutorial videos on almost anything, and various sources of entertainment. Due to Google Chrome’s features and optimization, we are able to have a hassle-free experience, which saves us a lot of time and proves to be quite helpful.
However, due to various reasons, Chrome can often display errors, which can be a predicament if you don’t know how to deal with a certain error. Most errors are easily resolvable, but some errors require some difficult measures to deal with and the average user of the internet, might not be aware of these methods and may face challenges in carrying them out.
There are many errors that a person may run into during their time using Google Chrome and among these errors is the ‘Your connection is not private’, which often leaves a person perplexed, as to why such an error appeared in the first place. So it is important to know why such an error occurs. There is a protocol known as the SSL or the Secure Socket Layer and its purpose is to encrypt, decrypt and authenticate the data being sent over the internet.
In order to make sure there is a secure and authentic connection between the client and the server (a connection between the user and the website), a website possesses an SSL certificate. This certificate allows a connection that is encrypted, hence providing a safe passage for the interaction between a website and a user to take place. It prevents any form of attack on the user during their time on a certain website.
The ‘Your connection is not private’ error may occur when a website’s SSL certificate is invalid or missing, in either case, a secure connection cannot be established, hence the Chrome browser is forced to present this error as a sign of warning, helping us understand that we might be undermining our safety by proceeding to a website that has a faulty SSL certificate.
SSL errors might be caused when a website’s certificate is outdated. This means that the SSL certificate has reached its expiry date and is in need of renewal. It is also possible that the certificate might be missing or is completely invalid. In this case, the certificate might not exist or is not present and it might be from a different website. There can be multiple domain names for a website, but sometimes all these names are not part of the SSL certificate. These few possible reasons may display the ‘Your connection is not private’ error.
How to remove this error?
As we determined that this error is an SSL error, most of the solutions will revolve around the idea of dealing with the SSL certificate, directly or by subtler methods. The most notable solutions are as follows.
Update your system’s date and time
If your computer’s time and date are messed up it can directly cause an SSL error known as the NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID error. However, the date and time issue is relevant for the ‘Your connection is not private’ as well. An inaccurate date and time would make an SSL certificate appear invalid or even expired. To fix your system’s date and time consider following these steps:
- Access the Start menu by pressing the Windows button on your keyboard.
- Once the menu appears, type ‘date and time’ to click on the ‘Change the date and time’ option, which will be in the System settings of a computer.
- A menu will appear, where you have a bunch of options related to date and time.
- You can either change the date and time manually or allow windows to update your time automatically.
- To access the manual settings, you must unselect the ‘Set time automatically’ option to make the ‘Change’ option accessible.
- Make the necessary changes to update your time.
- Restart your browser and if the invalid time was the culprit, the error will be resolved.
Clear the browser cache
A cache is a temporary memory that stores some information about a website that a user visited. Sometimes the cache overflows and causes inconveniences in your browsing experience. In order to get rid of the cache, you must delete your ‘browsing history’. These brief steps will help you delete your web history, in order to get rid of the cache:
- Press the ‘Ctrl + H’ combination to quickly access the ‘History’.
- Access the ‘Clear browsing data’ option and a new window will appear.
- Here you can select a time range. We recommend that you choose the ‘All time’ option.
- Make sure to check all boxes to get rid of the cookies and cache.
- Restart your browser and the issue will be resolved.
The downside to deleting cookies and cache is that your websites may take some extra time to load compared to before. You can also try to use the ‘Incognito Mode’ by striking the combination ‘Ctrl + Shift + N’. In this mode the browser history won’t be recorded, hence know cache will be saved.
Change your browser
We recommend that you change your browser temporarily and check if the same error is appearing on a different browser too.
Update your browser
If the same error is not being displayed on the other browser, then it can be concluded that your browser might need an update, If you are using Google Chrome, You can follow these steps to update it:
- Click on the three dots on the top right corner of your Chrome Window and hover your mouse over the ‘Help’ option, to reveal the ‘About Google Chrome’ option and click on it and a new window will appear.
- The browser will automatically start searching for a newer version, and if a newer version is available, you will be guided to update Chrome.
- When the update is finished, you can press the ‘Relaunch’ button to restart chrome in its latest version.
- This version is less likely to be bugged, meaning that your error would most probably be resolved.
Renew/Reinstall the SSL certificate
If you are the owner of a website that is facing this error, the only possible solution for you is to update your SSL certificate or install a new one, to make your website accessible. This way a secure connection would be established and no disruptions would take place on either side, whether it’s the host or the client.