Unable to browse specific sites (https / ssl)

Unable to browse specific sites (https / ssl) in all browsers. This just started about 2-3 weeks ago. I receive the timeout / page cannot be displayed error message. I can go to another pc in my household and the page comes up fine so I know its not the specific site issue. Plus this happens on more than one site...as an example gmail will not load. I performed a tracert to one of the sites I was attempting to get to and it went past my gateway all the way to the sites hop point but for some reason it will not load in any browser.

I have cleared cache, temp int files, etc. Ran spybot and it did not show any errors. I ran malware bytes and it came back with 2 things and I selected to remove them.

Running XP Pro / Service Pack 3

I attempted to run a restore but I tried 3 different restore points and all of them do not work. I read online that most likely means all the restore point are corrupt and no bother trying any further. And in order to get rid of the corrupt files just turn off the restore feature / reboot / and then turn back on and let it start fresh again.

The only thing I can think of that I even did on the pc a few weeks ago was to install the latest updates from MS. This pc hardly gets used at all. I have not went in and uninstalled the most recent updates but plan on doing that later on today.

Any other thoughts / ideas?

Thanks....

 

I apologize to just be getting back to this now...(I was out of town caring for a family member)...anyway, I checked both IE and FF settings / compared both on the working pc and the non working pc and everything is the same but I am still having issues.

Only two ideas I can come up with....1. MS Updates did something or 2. Around the same time I started having this trouble (approx 2-3 weeks ago) I installed an FTP Server on the pc that is not working (Core FTP) and configured appropriately. I don't remember specifically trying to access ssl websites after doing this so I may be grasping at straws...just saying.

Suggestions / Other thoughts of actions / etc...

Thanks....

 

Uninstalled Core FTP and rebooted pc but still not working...any other ideas / suggestions?

Thanks for your continued assistance...

 

Check your firewall and see if Core FTP was "managing" port 443. If it is blocked, unblock it...

 

Ok, I looked in the firewall settings (Windows Firewall) and I didn't see anything unusual...(I didn't really know where to look to see if Core FTP was "managing" port 443). But I didn't see Core FTP listed anywhere so I just figured it's not doing anything with port 443.

Here is the kicker...while I was there, I noticed that for some reason my firewall was off. Only thing I can think of is maybe I turned my firewall off in order to make sure the everything would work as it should when configuring the Core FTP application back a few weeks ago. And as you can imagine like magic, once I turned my firewall back on, now I am able to go to ssl/https sites....I just tested and two sites that I couldn't get to before are now working.

So here is the million dollar question...while in the heck would not having your firewall turned on not allow you to get to https/ssl sites???

Thanks....

 

What do you have your browser proxy settings set for? No Proxy or Auto-Detect would be best.
Options>Advanced>Network tab>Settings

Winsock/TCP stack may have been corrupted somewhere down the line, from an elevated (admin) command prompt run

netsh winsock reset catalog
and then
netsh int ip reset reset.log hit

 

I have "No Proxy" currently set (I use FF). Also, should I even bother running the command line stuff if the sites are now working? Again, not sure what the firewall being turned off had to do with anything but it is working now.

 

If it is now working, no need to reset winsock and and the stack. Won't hurt...

I suspect that Core FTP made some settings changes on install, either by default or some option you selected or didn't select.

But alls well that ends well...