In this Article, you will know how to fix the “Your connection is not private” or “ERR_CERT_COMMON_NAME_INVALID” error. The browser displays “Your connection is not private” error when it couldn’t verify that the website you are visiting is safe or not. The browser uses this message to warn you that the website you are trying to visit is unsafe, and your confidential data may get stolen.
How to Turn on “Enhanced Safe Browsing” in Google Chrome
Sometimes also the message is mentioned like this How to Turn on “Enhanced Safe Browsing” in Google Chrome. Enhanced Safe Browsing is available for Chrome on desktop and Android. It’s not available for iPhone and iPad. The process for enabling it is very similar on both platforms.
- First, select the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner of the Google Chrome web browser and choose “Settings” from the menu.
- Next, go to the “Privacy and Security” section of the Settings.
- On the desktop, click “Security.” On Android, it’s called “Safe Browsing.”
- Select the radio button to enable “Enhanced Protection.”
That’s it! You won’t notice anything different in your everyday browsing, but you’ll now have better protection. In the event that something is amiss, Google Chrome will give you a warning.
What is “Your Connection is Not Private” Error
What is your connection is not a private error. The browser displays your connection is not a private error when it couldn’t verify that the website you are visiting is safe or not.
The browser uses this message to warn you that the website you are trying to visit is unsafe and your confidential data may get stolen.
When you try to visit a website your browser checks the website’s certificate to make sure that your connection is encrypted and private. if the certificate isn’t up to the standard the browser prevents you from accessing the site.
Why does Your Connection is Not Private Error Appear
When you open a website that is using HTTPS protocol your browser checks for the SSL certificate and when the SSL certificate is expired or not correctly configured the browser immediately stops the connection and displays your connection is not a private error.
The SSL stands for secure socket layer certificate it is used to identify the server location of the website with the help of SSL your browser makes sure that you are connected to the genuine server and your data is encrypted before sending and receiving.
so when the browser couldn’t verify the SSL certificate it shows you a warning that your connection is not private. there could be several reasons for this error:
- The SSL certificate is missing or expired
- Your browser is outdated
- Date and time is not matching
- Conflicting DNS settings
- Your antivirus is interfering
- The SSL is not configured correctly on the server
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How to Fix “Your Connection is Not Private” Error On Browsers
Common Fixes
To fix this error let’s try some common fixes first before going into detailed solutions:
Reload the page
Reload the page if you see the error don’t get spooked try reloading the page might reload and you don’t have to go through detailed fixes.
Restart the browser
You can also restart the browser just close the whole browser window to try and open the website again.
Go incognito
You try opening the website in a private or incognito window and sometimes it does work.
Change the browser
If you see your connection is not private error on a browser try opening the website in another browser.
Clear browsing data
You can try clearing the browsing data on chrome by:
- Press “CTRL” plus the “H” button.
- Now click on clear browsing data
- Select everything and delete the data
On firefox:
- Click on menu
- Then on settings now select privacy and
- Security tab
- Then go to cookies and site data
- Click on clear data then clear it
- Now go to the history click on clear
- History selects everything in the time range
- Then click ok
- Then try opening the website
Restart the PC
The next common fix you can try is to
- Restart your pc
- Close everything
- Restart the pc
- And open the website again
Check Date & Time
Check date and time if the date and time setting is not accurate on your system your browser could display your collection is not a private error because the browser checks the validity of the SSL certificate using the date and if the settings are not accurate it will display the error.
To fix that click on the time and date on the taskbar if the date and time setting is inaccurate right click on it click on adjust date time now make sure you have selected the correct time zone.
- If you are connected to the internet you can sync the clock by clicking on sync now.
- If not you can manually set the date and time by clicking on change once you have set the date and time try to open the website.
Check if you are using public Wi-Fi
Check if you are using a public wi-fi if you are on public wi-fi your browser might display this error because most public wi-fi hotspots are poorly configured and they won’t run on HTTPS.
It is better not to use such a network to access sites with critical data another way to access confidential sites on public wi-fi is to use VPN which provides a secured encrypted connection to visit such sites.
Check DNS on your PC and Router
the DNS is responsible for resolving the IP address of the server you are trying to open when your browser detects unexpected changes in the DNS it couldn’t verify the security certificate and displays the error so you should check the DNS settings on your pc and in your router.
To do that open:
- Settings
- Go to network and
- Internet now here click on change
- Adapter options
- Now right click on your active internet
- Connection and choose properties
- Select internet protocol version 4 and
- Click on properties
- Now here if you see anything entered in
- The DNS settings select the obtain DNS server address automatically if it is already selected select the use
The following DNS server address and enter the google public DNS 8.8.8.8 and here 8.8.4.4 now click ok.
If you are using ipv6 addresses then select version 6 and go to properties then do the same here the ipv6 google public DNS address is:
- 2001:4860:4860::8888
- 2001:4860:4860::8844
Now you should check it on your router also if you don’t have access to your network router contact your internet service provider log in to the router
- Find the section where you can
- change the DNS settings
- And select the default DNS provided by the ISP
Seek Help
If you have tried all the steps and are still facing this error contact your isp if you are facing this issue with a particular website then it means that the SSL certificate of that website is not properly configured if you know the owner you can email them or tell them that their site is not working on social media the owner might not be aware and now he will resolve it quickly.