the security certificate has expired or is not yet valid

A guy called me because after re-installing WinXP on his computer, he kept getting the following error message when trying to get online.

the security certificate has expired or is not yet valid

Tried updating the certificates according to info on the internet, then tried uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 back to version 7. Still nothing.

I got him to check out his settings and compare them to mine. I went to open IE, then click on Tools, Internet Options, then the Security tab and clicked on the Custom level button.

Down towards the bottom was a Reset custom settings option mine was set to Medium-high (default) his was on High and he couldn't change it.

We went step by step through all the settings in the list above to try to change it manually. Using the settings on mine as a guide. But when he clicked on OK to save the settings the certificate error message kept popping up.

So online again, finally coming across the solution. CHECK THE DATE ON YOUR COMPUTER. If your date is two far off one way or the other, that can cause this error message.

His was set to 2001. When he set it to 2010, problem solved.

I found the solution at: www.askdavetaylor.com/invalid_or_expired_security_certificate.html

From My Opera Blog

My blog at http://my.opera.com/dracula1966/blog/ is no longer valid. I was accused of spamming, which I've never done in my life. I'm getting the impression that it was because I had links back to my site here. Despite this I'm still a fan of the browser.

This post was the last one uploaded to my Late Opera Blog I just updated to Opera 10.60 and here are my initial experiences.

Opera 10.60

Saturday, 17. July 2010, 07:02:03

With every upgrade, My Opera just doesn't seem to be the same anymore. One cool option that I will give Opera credit for is the Speed Dial. I currently have it set up for the 4x3 option or 12 thumbnails.

Before upgrading to Opera 10.60 I use to have a picture in the background. I used have a skin installed called Speed Dial Clear that would make the thumbnails transparent.

But now that doesn't work. With the little space showing around the thumbnails, it's pointless putting a picture in the background anymore. There are other transparent skins but it only works with Vista Aero (or Windows 7).

On my XP system all I get is a grey non-transparent look. I'll said it once and I'll say it again, Not everyone can run out and buy a new system every time Microsoft decides to jam a new operating system. I've also uninstalled all my widgets and haven't bothered with them since.

On the plus side, in the past I installed Opera as a single profile. Basically all my settings and profile info was in the C:\Program Files\Opera folder. Easy for me to back up. I just burn the entire folder of on a CD to preserve my settings.

Then all of a sudden Opera started installing itself all over the hard drive in the Documents and Settings folder. Hunting down the bits and pieces was a pain. Opera use to ask during install if I wanted to install for a single user or multiple users.

I prefered single, and still do. But the Opera install stopped asking. I just assumed it was an option no longer available. Until I came across a comment on www.portablefreeware.com/?id=507 .

Basically create a text file and rename it operaprefs_default.ini and save file in the Opera.exe folder - usually c:\Program Files\Opera. This saves all your settings in one folder rather than the Windows profile folders.

Type or Copy and Paste the following lines in it:

[System]
Multi User=0 ; If enabled Opera will use Windows profiles to store individual user settings

If the file already exits, as it did on mine, just change the 1 to a 0. 1 means settings are buried in the Documents and Settings folder, 0 means all your settings are in c:\Program Files\Opera.

If you change this setting, and already have bookmarks and other customizations, when you first starup Opera it starts up as a new install. Just copy the files from the old profile usually something like C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Opera.

In Opera, menu bar, click on Help and the about Opera and you'll see the paths to everything (check this before switching to a single profile user).

I've also mentioned in a previous post about digging video files out of the cache. If your crazy enough to do this, like me, here's a tip:

Click on Tools, then Preferences and the click on the Advanced tab. Click on History on the left hand menu Set the Disk Cache to 400MB. Then click on Empty On Exit.

The larger cache gives you more breathing space for more videos and longer ones without doing it one at a time. And Empty On Exit make the files easier to find. Just go in the cache file and look in the sub-folder called sesn, at least that's how it is listed on mine.

C:\Program Files\Opera\profile\cache\sesn

Otherwise you got a jungle to navigate through. Be sure you dig them out before shutting down the browser or all will be lost.

I know Opera has this about:cache thing to search in the cache folder, but it seems to be a hit-or-miss deal and for some reason Opera seems to go online to download the file that is supposed to be in the cache folder.

So I've lost a few things with Opera but gained something back. I'm soon going to stop upgrading or even thinking about downgrading (using an older). I'm willing to take my chances with any security flaws, after all I've tuned off Windows updating years ago and never looked back....but that's just me.

ps: After I wrote the above, I tried to print up a copy of my post, for my records as I always do. Then I was reminded of another problem that still seems to haunt Opera: Print Preview and Printing still SUCKS!

I have to switch to another browser now to print up my own Opera blog post. Just looking at the output and trying to explain what it looks like: I have the name of the post across the top with the page 1 numbering...OK...Then I have a thick line across the top and one coming down the left-hand side of the page...then repeat that pattern over and over.

I get the same results when I try to print anything up on the Yahoo Questions and Answers forum.

Update: July20, 2010
Just found a forum entry http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=641072&t=1279631481&page=1#comment6297412 It seems to be a bug with the print preview. Printing without previewing seems to be the only solution right now, until Opera fixes it.