Norton - Connectivity To This Website Is Not Secure

I have an old Dell desktop running Windows 8.2. It still does what I need done.

Recently I began having notices displayed that indicated they were from Norton (antivirus). The notice states that: Connection to this website is not secure. Norton has blocked access to https://en-us.appex-rf.msn.com/ because one of the issuers of the server certificate has expired.

I can either close the notice or "see the details", which displays the certificate name, the issuer, and detected by.

If I close the notice, it closes, but returns minutes later. The notice appears even while the computer is idol.

Norton does not seem to have any customer support and Microsoft was a jungle that I got lost in, so I am turning to a forum which I have not used in a while, but always found helpful.

I find it hard to believe that Microsoft isn't keeping it certificates current, but then this may be an issue with an old Windows version and I am simply unaware that support has lagged.

If anyone has information or suggestion on how to deal with this, I would appreciate the feedback.

Pete

 

This isn't a Norton problem. This is what I got when trying to connect to the link you provided:

"Firefox detected an issue and did not continue to en-us.appex-rf.msn.com. The website is either misconfigured or your computer clock is set to the wrong time.

What can you do about it?

en-us.appex-rf.msn.com has a security policy called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which means that Firefox can only connect to it securely. You can’t add an exception to visit this site.

Your computer clock is set to Mar 8, 2025. Make sure your computer is set to the correct date, time, and time zone in your system settings, and then refresh en-us.appex-rf.msn.com.

If your clock is already set to the right time, the website is likely misconfigured, and there is nothing you can do to resolve the issue. You can notify the website’s administrator about the problem."

This is also not a problem with your older version of Windows, either, as I tried connecting with a fully updated Windows 10 machine. A quick check of the Microsoft Community links suggest that, again, they are not all that helpful, and that this has been an occasional problem for at least the last ten years.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I am confused on what you meant when you said, "You can notify the website’s administrator about the problem.". Which website administrator would I be contacting?

This notice appears when I am not even using my browser. In fact I can close all programs and leave the computer running, go have lunch, and return and the notice will be shown on the screen. Something must be being attempted to execute in the background.

So I remain puzzled.

 

Sorry, I should have also added that the date and time are correct on the computer.

 

I was not the one suggesting that you contact the site's administrator: that was part of the message Firefox put up on my screen when I tried connecting to your MSN link.

It'll be a bit, but I'll do some more digging.

 

DangitallRedux, thanks for taking an interest in my problem.

I can not explain this but I am no longer receive the notice. I booted my computer this morning and checked email and other things that I would normally do each day. The compute has been running now for over six hours and the mysterious notice has not appear once.

Given what you found about the need to check date and correct time, I do wonder about the change of time with daylight savings time. Very strange.

 

You know, I really hate it when problems fix themselves.

 

I spoke too soon. It's back. No notice popped-up on Sunday or Monday. This morning it began to reappear.

The trigger is definitely occurring in the background and not related to deliberately starting a program or browsing a website. I have rebooted the computer and just let it sit running and the notice appears.

I have done a complete scan with Norton and nothing is showing up as a problem.

As far as I know, it is not interfering with any operation. It is just annoying to close the notice and have it reappear in 10 to 15 minutes.

I am at a loss as to what to do.

 

Just for giggles, what exactly are the details shown?

I never got a chance to use Windows 8, so I don't know if there would be a way to selectively block specific notifications from within whatever passed for 8's Settings interface but, if it is possible, this might be the simplest solution.

 

When I click on "Show Details" an additional panel drops down with the text:
Certificate ----- *.appex-fr.msn.co
Issuer ----- Microsoft Azure TLS issuing CA 06
Detected By ----- Safe Web

I have attached a screen shot.

Does windows have a log of background actions? I would like to figure out what was causing the notification.

 

Something may be trying to connect to that site in the background. You might want to try installing Windows Firewall Control (https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/windows_firewall_control.html) and setting it to Medium Filtering on the Profiles tab. Pay attention to what programs request permission to make an outside connection and block anything that looks suspicious.

 

I downloaded the Firewall Control program and installed. Changed the settings for filtering first to Medium and then to High. Rebooted to get the program to start.

At first it appeared that the notification was not popping up until I move the mouse, and then it popped up. Before it simply appeared, so I have no idea why moving the mouse needed to occur, but I find this whole thing puzzling.

Nothing was showing up in the log of the program.

 

If the popup was still occurring with WFC set to High, then it's not likely to be anything to do with an outgoing connection. If you wish, reset WFC to the default level and uninstall it.

This might actually be a problem with Norton. Do they still support Windows 8? Is this a paid version? Would you be able and willing to uninstall and reinstall it?

 

I have never received a notice from Norton that they no long support Win 8, but I'll look into it. I will also try the uninstall and reinstall to see if that helps.

Separately, I downloaded a version of "HiJack This". I see that it is no longer being maintained and I had not even thought about the program since the Win XP days. But I installed and ran it. I see a lot of suspicious entries such as:

O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpAsDesc.dll,-320 (WdNisSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Defender\NisSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Malwarebytes Windows Firewall Control (wfcs) - Malwarebytes - C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes\Windows Firewall Control\wfcs.exe
O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Defender\MpAsDesc.dll,-310 (WinDefend) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)

In the middle of the entries is the malwarbytes pprogram. But the others (and there are more not shown) I have no idea what they are or where they cam from.

Is there a program similar to the HiJack This that is currently recommended?

 

There is a tool similar to the old HijackThis called "Farbar Recovery Scan Tool". I am not qualified to give you a hand with it, but there is one person in this forum who appears to be proficient with it. Perhaps he'll pop in and offer to help.

Another option might be (if Windows 8 had it) to reinstall Windows from a recovery partition, in effect resetting your machine's OS to its original state. I don't know if any of the subsequent updates would still be available anywhere.

I don't know if this is still possible, but the machine I'm on right now began life as a Windows 8 unit. The friend who gave it to me took advantage of a Microsoft offer to upgrade it to Windows 10, and it cost him nothing.

It might also be time for a newer machine. Just sayin'...

 

I wish it were as simple as replacing the computer. It also means newer versions of software and perhaps even hardware, such as printers. With the trend that software companies have taken away from selling a license to selling subscriptions, holding on as long as I can is the way to go.

I have downloaded FRST and installed. Figuring out what it all means will take awhile.

Earlier today I ran HiJank This and had it "Fix" (delete) some suspicious listings. I rebooted and have not been bother with the notice since. But I thought something similar this past weekend only to be disappointed.

Once again thank you for you interest and help.

 

Please keep us posted as to how you make out...and I thoroughly understand the difficulties in updating, believe me.

 

Giving up on this computer may be my final solution. Yesterday I deleted and reinstalled Norton. For a while I was feeling good that move may have solved the issue, but the notice popped up this morning.

I will spend a bit of time learning about FRST with the hope it can help.

I am now of the belief that the problem is a Malware issue, but I can not see the benefit to the installer other then causing a problem. But maybe that is the whole idea.