Technical Help! Please!

berbatov10

I sometimes try to log onto site to make purchases and similar and am prevented from doing so as it say i may need 128 bit encription?? As a technophobe i have no clue what this means and how i get round it?Over to you experts!

isofa

What browser are you using?

berbatov10

Sorry could you explain? If you mean internet explorer 6?? Would that be right

fwor

Around a decade ago the US government decided that (relatively) high-grade encryption should be categorised as "munitions", and so should not be available to non-US citizens. Eventually they realised that this was just plain stupid and decided that 128 bit encryption (which is now very ordinary in terms of security) should be made more universally available. If your copy of IE came from - for example - one of the ex-Soviet Union countries then it may well still be crippled by the US Government/M$.

IIRC, the last version of IE to be released with crippled encryption was IE5, but I think it stays crippled even if you upgrade to IE6.

Probably the easiest solution would be to abandon IE and download the latest release of Mozilla's Firefox.

berbatov10

download that for free anywhere? I didnt understand as it even blocked me from the Avon website! But that may be for a different reason. Have tried my girlfriends laptop for all similar stuff and had no problems

fwor

Yes, you can download it for free here:

http://www.mozilla.com/

berbatov10

but being "that type" i cant understand why i have trouble when evryone else i know uses IE and has no problem!

fwor

As I asked earlier, is it possible that your copy of Windows came from a country that the US would have been wary of a few years ago? If so, the version of IE that came with it would have been crippled from the start.

Otherwise I guess it would be possible to turn off 128 bit encryption, but I doubt the "average user" could do so accidentally!

berbatov10

by a friend? I have attached a copy of exactly what i get when i try to access such pages, this came from IE home page!!PS Thanks for your patience! The page must be viewed with a high-security Web browserThe resource you are trying to access is secured with a 128-bit version of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). In order to view this resource, you need a browser that supports this version of SSL.

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Please try the following:Contact the Web site administrator if your Web browser does support 128-bit encryption, or if you believe you should be able to view this directory or page. Upgrade your Web browser to a version that supports 128-bit encryption. HTTP Error 403.5 - Forbidden: SSL 128 is required to view this resource.Internet Information Services (IIS)

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fwor

Yes, that's exactly what you would expect to see if either 1. your version of Windows had low grade security from the start or 2. it had subsequently been disabled (deliberately or accidentally).

Depending on which of the above is true, there are ways around, but I recommend that you simply move to Firefox and stop using IE, as I think that trying to fix IE will just cost you time and aggravation!

berbatov10

is very much appreciated! Thank you. I may even be able to access competitions on MSE and make some money! Have a great christmas and happy new year to you and your family