Can't access any search engines

[PixelGeek]

 Exposition:

 In my band's music archive, we had a Dell Optiplex 990. Looking at the specs, this PC should have more than enough horsepower to run things like Chrome, Word, Musescore, and other simple applications like that. However, this PC easily took 10 minutes to boot in to windows, and struggled to do anything from there. My school district has all the computers locked down with an administrative password, They've done many other things to them to make them easier to monitor, and the school has a web filter as well. So, that means you can't Install new programs, change most windows settings, uninstall programs, go to sites like Facebook, Discord, or Instagram, or run windows troubleshooter (I'm sure there are many other things you can't do).

 

  To combat these issues, I decided to game end the school computer, and just bring my own Vostro 200. The Vostro works so much better, it's way more snappy, I put an SSD in it so it boots in seconds, and when I plug it in to the school's network, it works almost perfectly fine, without the network trying to butt-frick it. My problem is, I can't access any search engine.

 

Problem:

   If I open chrome, and try to search for something, I get NET::ERR_CERT_AUTHORITY_INVALID and I'm stuck there. However, if I type in, say linustechtips.com, the browser has absolutely no problem. I tried getting to google through Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and even IE. They all say that there's a certificate problem or that hackers are trying to steal my data. I even tried to go to Yahoo, and Bing. This boggles me, since I can type in the URL to any other site and there's no issue, youtube.com works perfectly fine, but as soon as I try to search for something in a traditional engine, I have an issue. I also have an issue with Google Drive, I can open it, and look through my files, but I can't download anything.

 

   I theorize that it's the web filter. Perhaps, when it sniffs the packets, the computer detects that and it thinks it's a middle man trying to steal my information. I'm competent with computers, but not with networking, so that could be absolutely wrong. Anyone got ideas? 

[WhatsTheWifiPassword]

not sure is this going to help, but : 

 

https://aboutssl.org/quick-steps-fix-google-chrome-ssl-certificate-errors/

 

• If there is conflict in a cookie, this error may be displayed, better you clear all the cookies of that particular website (how to remove website cookies is displayed above) or else try to access that website in incognito mode (Ctrl + Shift + N).
• If you are using an older version on Operating system, then you must update it.
• If any antivirus software is installed, you should turn it off as few antivirus blocks suspicious HTTPS traffic sometime."

[FlappyBoobs]

It could also be that your school network uses a setup that serves the search pages via their own server, so there is a trust mismatch in the browser and it flags it as unsafe. I've seen them do it before where they want to see what people are searching for and block the search, because inappropriate for school text and images can be seen just in search results. 

 

Your pc doesn't have the setup to be able to use it, but try lowering your security settings to nothing just to test it. Then put them back when done. 

[PixelGeek]

37 minutes ago, WhatsTheWifiPassword said:

not sure is this going to help, but : 

 

https://aboutssl.org/quick-steps-fix-google-chrome-ssl-certificate-errors/

 

• If there is conflict in a cookie, this error may be displayed, better you clear all the cookies of that particular website (how to remove website cookies is displayed above) or else try to access that website in incognito mode (Ctrl + Shift + N).
• If you are using an older version on Operating system, then you must update it.
• If any antivirus software is installed, you should turn it off as few antivirus blocks suspicious HTTPS traffic sometime."

I chuckled a bit when that site said Chrome has "low memory usage". I'll give those things a try. 

 

[PixelGeek]

19 minutes ago, FlappyBoobs said:

It could also be that your school network uses a setup that serves the search pages via their own server, so there is a trust mismatch in the browser and it flags it as unsafe. I've seen them do it before where they want to see what people are searching for and block the search, because inappropriate for school text and images can be seen just in search results. 

 

Your pc doesn't have the setup to be able to use it, but try lowering your security settings to nothing just to test it. Then put them back when done. 

I've just had a thought. If what you're saying is true, then I'll try plugging my phone in to the computer, and using WiFi tethering, instead of the school Ethernet.