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Why does Firefox not display the Google site or searches?

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  • 8 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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When I put Google.com into the Firefox search bar, below is what I get. My old Firefox started doing this so I deleted it and downloaded a new version of Firefox yesterday. Google pulled up great after I installed it. I could also search on Google. Today I can do neither. It is back to what it was doing a few days ago....which you see below. Come on. This is Google. Other sites pull up, but not Google. Help !!

Secure Connection Failed

The connection to www.google.com was interrupted while the page was loading.

   The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified.
   Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.
When I put Google.com into the Firefox search bar, below is what I get. My old Firefox started doing this so I deleted it and downloaded a new version of Firefox yesterday. Google pulled up great after I installed it. I could also search on Google. Today I can do neither. It is back to what it was doing a few days ago....which you see below. Come on. This is Google. Other sites pull up, but not Google. Help !! Secure Connection Failed The connection to www.google.com was interrupted while the page was loading. The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because the authenticity of the received data could not be verified. Please contact the website owners to inform them of this problem.

All Replies (2)

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Unfortunately, there are not a lot of details in that error text. Does the page have any other information that could help explain the problem? Some error pages have an "Advanced" button to access technical details.

Do you use any programs that intercept secure connections? These include Avast, Bitdefender, ESET, Kaspersky, Microsoft Family Safety, and AVG?

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are general suggestions to try when it stops working:

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes. If you do not see the number going down on the page, you can reload it using Ctrl+r to check progress.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "View Cookies"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "View Cookies" button

In the dialog that opens, the current site should be pre-filled in the search box at the top of the dialog so you can remove that site's cookies individually.

If you can't get a Page Info dialog on the site, open it on a different site and enter google.com in the box at the top in place of whatever is there.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox.

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" button > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement? (More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode)

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Do a malware check with several malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.

Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware. All these programs have free versions.

Make sure you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

See also:

A possible cause of this issue is the presence of malware on your computer.

If using various malware scanners does not fix it or if you are blocked from installing those scanners then ask advice at a forum that specializes in malware removal.

~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/ /Users/<user> ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/ ~/Library/Mozilla/Firefox/Profiles/<profile>/ ~/Library/Caches/Firefox/Profiles/ In Firefox Safe mode these changes are effective:

  • all extensions are disabled (about:addons)
  • default theme is used (no persona)
  • default toolbar layout is used
  • xulstore.json is ignored
  • userChrome.css and userContent.css are ignored (chrome folder in profile folder)
  • JavaScript JIT compilers are disabled
  • hardware acceleration is disabled (Options/Preferences -> Advanced -> General)
  • plugins are not affected
  • preferences are not affected