If you’re lucky, simply refreshing the webpage might resolve the error. If not, it may require more extensive troubleshooting. Before exploring the solutions, let’s first examine the cause of the ‘Your connection is not private’ error in Chrome.
Why Does Chrome Keep Saying Your Connection Is Not Private
Google Chrome usually displays the ‘Your connection is not private’ error when it fails to establish a secure connection or can’t verify the authenticity of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. Apart from that, issues with your internet connection, browser extensions, and antivirus program can also trigger this error. To put it simply, the error message signals that the connection between your device and the website is not encrypted. Hence, it’s vital not to ignore this error message.
How to Fix Your Connection Is Not Private Error in Google Chrome
Now that you understand why the ‘Your connection is not private’ error occurs in Chrome, let’s look at how to fix it.
1. Try Incognito Mode
You can start by using Chrome in incognito mode to browse without any browser cache, cookies, or extensions. To open an incognito window in Chrome, click on the three-dot menu and select New Incognito Window.
Alternatively, you can also open the webpage in another browser to verify if the issue is specific to Chrome.
2. Switch to a Different Network
If you’re using a public Wi-Fi connection at a restaurant, mall, or airport that runs on the HTTP protocol instead of HTTPS, Chrome might interrupt you with a ‘Your connection is not private’ error. HTTPS is more secure compared to HTTP, and the error is a warning sign indicating the same. Consider switching to a private network and try to load the webpage again.
3. Correct the Date and Time on Your PC
If your PC shows an incorrect date or time, it can prevent apps and browsers from connecting to a server. Since SSL Certificates are only valid for a certain period, setting your PC to the correct date and time is important to establish a secure connection.
Enable Automatic Date and Time on Windows
Step 1: Press Windows key + I to open Settings. Navigate to Time & language tab and open the Date & time settings.
Step 2: Toggle on the switch next to ‘Set time automatically.’
Enable Automatic Date and Time on Mac
Step 1: Click the time indicator on the right of the menu bar and select ‘Open Date & Time Preferences.’
Step 2: In the following window, under Date & Time, check the box next to ‘Set date and time automatically.’ Then, use the drop-down menu to select the preferred time server.
4. Clear Cache and Cookies
If you’re still facing the error despite switching networks and verifying the clock on your PC, Chrome may be loading a cached version of the web page. To ensure that Chrome is fetching a fresh copy of web pages, you’ll need to clear the existing cache and cookies. Here are the steps for the same. Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on Windows (or Cmd + Shift + Delete on Mac) to launch the Clear browsing data panel. Step 2: Select All time in the Time range section and mark the checkboxes that read ‘Cookies and other site data’ and ‘Cached images and files.’ Step 3: Then, hit Clear data.
Restart Chrome and try loading the web page again.
5. Disable Antivirus Program
Like Chrome, antivirus programs on your PC also actively scan for the website’s SSL certificate. You can dig through the settings of your antivirus program to disable HTTPS scanning or turn off the antivirus program momentarily to bypass certificate errors in Chrome.
6. Disable VPN
Using a VPN connection adds a layer of security by redirecting your traffic through a different server and masking your IP addresses. But on the flip side, this also makes it complicated for Chrome to verify the SSL certificate, leading to connection privacy errors. Disable VPN and load the web page again to see if that resolves the error.
7. Turn Off Browser Extensions
There’s a chance that one of your third-party extensions is acting up and preventing Chrome from establishing a secure connection. If you suspect that to be the case, try turning off all the extensions and see if it helps. In Chrome, type chrome://extensions in the URL bar at the top and hit Enter. Then, use the toggles to disable all your extensions one by one.
Restart the browser after this and see if the error occurs again. Tip: To improve your Chrome experience, check out these best flags to make Chrome faster.
8. Change DNS Settings
Another fix that worked for many users while fixing the ‘Your connection is not private’ error is configuring Chrome to use secure DNS. You can also give it a go. Here’s how. Step 1: Open Chrome. Click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner to open Settings.
Step 2: Navigate to the Privacy and security tab on your left and click on Security.
Step 3: Scroll down to the Advanced section and enable the ‘Use secure DNS’ option.
9. Update Your Operating System
It’s always a good idea to keep your computer updated to the latest version available. If the ‘Your connection is not private’ error in Google Chrome is occurring due to a bug within the system, installing newer updates should help.
On Windows Computer
Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings app. Navigate to the Windows Update tab and click the Check for updates button on your right to download and install pending updates.
On Mac
Use the following steps to install pending updates on Mac. Step 1: Click the Apple icon in the top left corner and select System Settings from the list.
Step 2: Navigate to the General tab and click on Software Update to install pending updates.
10. Bypass the Your Connection Is Not Private Error
If the ‘Your connection is not private’ error occurs only for one website, and you need to visit it right away, you can also bypass the error message in Chrome. To do so, click on Advanced and select ‘Proceed to [website domain name].’
Note: It is not recommended to visit such websites, especially if you’re planning to perform financial transactions as they aren’t safe. Alternatively, you can also configure Chrome to ignore such SSL connection errors entirely. For that, type chrome://flags in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Search for the ‘Allow invalid certificates for resources loaded from localhost’ flag. Click the drop-down menu next to it and select Enabled.
Connect Securely
We’re confident that one of the above solutions has helped you fix the error. While we only talked about Chrome, similar errors could also appear in other browsers like Edge and Firefox. In such cases, you can use some, if not all, the above solutions to get past the error. Additionally, here’s how you can solve the private connection error in Safari on iPhone. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
