How to Fix "Your Connection is Not Private" Error in Google Chrome

While browsing the internet, you might come across various web pages that show a warning message informing you that “Your connection is not private.” This isn’t an error in itself, however, you can easily fix it and continue browsing like nothing happened.

Jump to Section:

• What is the “Your connection is not private” message?
• Method 1. Reload the page
• Method 2. Clear Google Chrome’s cache, cookies, and browser history
• Method 3. Switch to Incognito Mode
• Method 4. Make sure your computer’s time and date are correct
• Method 5. Temporarily disable your antivirus (Unsafe)
• Method 6. Manually proceed with an unsafe connection (Unsafe)
• Method 7. Ignore the SSL certificate error (Unsafe)

What is the “Your connection is not private” message?

This warning message appears in Google Chrome to prevent you from visiting potentially dangerous websites. It’s related to the website’s SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connection or SSL certificate. Pages with correct SSL encryption are trusted to keep your data safe, while the lack of proper SSL measures might mean you’re visiting an unreliable destination.

By default, Google Chrome immediately blocks you from entering potentially dangerous websites when their SSL certificate is missing. This is why you come across the “Your connection is not private” error from time to time.

Some other reasons why the warning might appear include the following scenarios

• The website’s SSL certificate is present but already expired. Most SSL certificates last for about a year, which means website owners need to keep renewing their certificates to ensure a website is always secure.
• The SSL certificate is poorly configured. Even if a website has an active SSL certificate, it might be configured poorly which leads to the warning message appearing.
• You’re visiting a website made by an untrusted organization. Even if the website has an SSL certificate, most modern browsers are able to pick up whether or not the website is reliable or not.
• Various issues with your computer interfere with the website. Incorrect time and date, your antivirus, and other things may cause this warning message to appear.

Although in most cases the SSL certificate mentioned above causes the error, there are some things you can do to fix it yourself. We’ve compiled the best methods used to fix “Your connection is not private” message appears when you’re trying to visit a page on the internet.

Method 1. Reload the page

The most obvious solution you should try is simply refreshing the webpage and seeing if the warning message goes away. In some cases, the error appears because your browser failed to send the proper request to the SSL server. When you refresh, it gets another chance to verify the authenticity of the website, making it possible to proceed safely with ease.

You can use the refresh button in your Google Chrome toolbar, or simply press the F5 key on your keyboard to refresh the page on Windows. Mac users can refresh pressing the ⌘ + Shift + R keys simultaneously.

Method 2. Clear Google Chrome’s cache, cookies, and browser history

Sometimes, simply clearing your browsing data can fix the “Your connection is not private” error. You can do this by following the steps below.

1. Open Google Chrome, then click on the More icon (displayed by three dots arranged vertically) and hover over More tools. Here, click on Clear browsing data.
   
   
2. Make sure the Time range is set to All time.
3. Make sure that all of these options are ticked: Browsing history, Cookies, and other site data, and Cached images and files.
4. Click on the Clear data button.
   
   
5. After the process is over, restart Google Chrome and see if the message is still appearing when you use the browser.

Method 3. Switch to Incognito Mode

When using the Incognito Mode built into Google Chrome, you browse without cache, cookies, or browser history being stored. This may help you avoid getting the “Your connection is not private” warning message when visiting various websites.

Here are the steps to take in order to browse in Incognito Mode.

1. Open Google Chrome, then click on the More icon (displayed by three dots arranged vertically).
2. Click on the New Incognito Window option from the context menu. A new window will appear letting you know that you’re browsing incognito.
   
   
3. Enter the website you want to visit the address bar and see if you can access it without the warning message appearing.

Method 4. Make sure your computer’s time and date are correct

Google Chrome counts on your computer’s date and time to check the SSL certificate validity of a website. If your time and date is out of sync, you might experience false “Your connection is not private” warning messages.

Fix your time and date on Windows

1. Open the Settings app by using the Windows + I keyboard shortcut. You can also reach this from the Start menu by clicking on the gear icon.
2. A new window should open. Here, select the Time & Language tab, then choose Date & Time from the sidebar menu.
3. Turn these two options on:
1. Set time automatically
2. Select the time zone automatically
4. Next, choose Region & language from the same panel. Under Country or region, select the place you’re currently located in. This will automatically set your time and date correctly, as long as you’re connected to the internet when the change is made.
5. Restart your computer and try opening the Windows Store again.

Fix your time and date on Mac

1. Click on the Apple menu (shown as the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen) and choose System Preferences.
2. Click on Date & Time.
3. Make sure that the Set date and time automatically option is checked.
4. Choose your correct timezone and close the window.

Method 5. Temporarily disable your antivirus (Unsafe)

Antivirus applications are known to cause issues on computers by interfering with connections and such. You can easily test whether or not your antivirus software is causing the “Your connection is not private” warning message by temporarily disabling it.

Note that this method is not recommended as it is unsafe to browse without protection. Only proceed if you’re aware of the possible risks and have a backup of your system to revert any damage that may happen.

1. Right-click on an empty space in your taskbar and choose Task Manager.
2. If the Task Manager launched in compact mode, make sure to expand details by clicking on the “Mode details” button.
3. Switch to the Start-up tab using the header menu located at the top of the window.
4. Find your antivirus application from the list and select it by clicking on it once.
5. Click on the Disable button now visible in the bottom-right of the window. This will disable the application from launching when you start your device.
6. Restart your computer and attempt to visit the website that prompted the warning message. If you can access it without problems, then your antivirus was the culprit.

Method 6. Manually proceed with an unsafe connection (Unsafe)

A temporary but unsafe method to bypass this warning is manually proceeding despite Google Chrome blocking the website.

Note that this method is not recommended as it is unsafe to browse without protection. Only proceed if you’re aware of the possible risks and have a backup of your system to revert any damage that may happen.

1. Click the Advanced button on the warning page.
   
   
2. Click on the Proceed to website (unsafe) link.
   
   
3. You should be able to visit the website without encountering the same warning until your Google Chrome session restarts.

Method 7. Ignore the SSL certificate error (Unsafe)

To avoid the “Your connection is not private” warning altogether, you can add a line to your Google Chrome shortcut that prevents the page from appearing.

Note that this method is not recommended as it is unsafe to browse without protection. Only proceed if you’re aware of the possible risks and have a backup of your system to revert any damage that may happen.

1. Right-click on the Google Chrome shortcut on your desktop.
2. Click Properties from the context menu.
3. In the Target field, add –ignore-certificate-errors.
4. Click OK. You should be able to visit websites without the warning page appearing.

We hope that this article has helped you resolve the “Your connection is not private” message appearing in Google Chrome. Enjoy browsing the internet uninterrupted!