UKC

I have a computer with Win XP SP2 which is my ex work laptop (in a new job). If I reinstall windows I'll lose all my software that I still use.. e.g...Photoshop, Illustrator, Office 2003, Endnote and the NHS will not provide any of this (they provide star office, and none of the rest). So I need to stick with XP for now.

A number of quirks have appeared, e.g. the wireless dropping and re-appearing in a full strength area. However, the most annoying and inhibiting is that referred to in the title. Whatever browser you use, certain website just won't open, for example, twitter. This is the error I get for twitter:

The certificate that Chrome received during this connection attempt is not formatted correctly, so Chrome cannot use it to protect your information.
Error type: Malformed certificate
Subject: twitter.com
Issuer: VeriSign Class 3 Extended Validation SSL CA
Public key hashes: sha1/FXnwvO30nbpcJgjDK6bH+rGSqEo= sha256/qaKZwjzvNNGAc/ryUbwfqL2oArYbz4OPU22TnZ8MxNc= sha1/rkrX+bOA4RKTMrtS3loJDFIbM9A= sha256/OTV6OSADZrQuFMItaBc+5XvItK1Ljeify/yvIthNjvM= sha1/sYEIGhmkwJQf+uiVKMEkyZs0rMc= sha256/JbQbUG5JMJUoI6brnx0x3vZF6jilxsapbXGVfjhN8Fg=

The message changes, but the same websites won't open in any browser, i.e. it seems not to be a browser problem. I've bee searching for a solution and I've tried manually updating the certificate, which makes no difference. The most consistent solution suggested is to install XP SP3. I tried this, and the system completely fell down.. ..explorer seemed unstable with taskbat, start functions working at about once every minute, open software also being extremely slow and numerous errors on the eventviewer. The internet also would not work with SP3. So I did a system restore, which was the first time I've ever done that, and it worked fine, bringing me back to how it was with the same SSL errors with many websites.

Now I'm at a loss. It would seriously improve use and life of this computer if I could get this functionality back, because it is otherwise fast enough for me with ideal software!

Any advice would be seriously appreciated from those with computer know-how!!!!!
Thanks.
Jamie

In reply to contrariousjim:

Normally, a browser will ask the operating system (i.e. Windows) to verify a certificate it gets from a website. That it happens in all browsers probably means that windows is unable to validate the certificate. In particular, I don't think SP2 can handle modern certificates, so as websites start using them, you start seeing this error.

The best (and only real) fix would be SP3, but you say that casued problems for you.

A workaround may be to use Firefox as a browser. Unlike most other browsers, it does certificate verification itself rather than asking windows to do it.

Either way, be aware that:
1) Windows XP is not supported by Microsoft anymore. There will be no more security patches, so if you stay with it you have an increasing virus risk as time goes on. It doesn't look too bad so far, but only time will tell.
2) It may or may not be legal for you to continue using the software your old employer bought once you have left their employ. The rules are different for each software manufacturer, and depend on how your old employer bought each piece.

In reply to Jack B:


Well that's a lot better explained than on most of the advice websites I've visited. Thanks.


Yes. The login screen appeared quickly, but took ages 5mins+ to get to desktop. Task bar, start menu and applications were extremely tardy 1min from click or hover to the option appearing or executing. Event viewer reveals numerous DCOM errors. And wifi wouldn't work, even though a network cable attachment did. Unfortunately.. ..while the system restore initially worked perfectly, with no freezes or long delays, internet working fine. After being off overnight, when I switched on this morning it was back to freezing completely. Arghhh. The only task other than looking on pubmed.com last night was that I ran sfc /scandsk with the windows disk. Now it won't let me restore to that point again!!


That's great. I thought I'd tried it, but I clearly hadn't, even though its one of the many I have installed. That works. So I'm happy with that work around.


Yes I realise that.


I'm ex PhD and the computer is part of the package to give advantage in my ongoing career, hardware and software. At least that is what I've been told by the ex boss and the computer services people. Unfortunately I don't have access to ongoing IT support.

In reply to contrariousjim:

There was a big security scare a couple of months ago when the security certificates were potentially compromised. Various sites became "off-line" as the certificates were updated and people's OSes and browsers took time to catch up. I can't remember what Microsoft's policy was towards XP