Here’s a safe, practical checklist to get back to the real login page without guessing.
Before you start: if you’re on public Wi‑Fi (hotel, airport, café), try opening any normal site (example.com) to trigger the captive portal sign-in. A lot of “privacy” errors on login pages are actually “you haven’t accepted the Wi‑Fi terms yet.”
1. Confirm your device date/time and time zone
If your clock is off, HTTPS certificates can look “expired” or “not yet valid,” and Chrome will block secure sign-in pages.
- Turn on automatic date/time and automatic time zone (recommended).
- Restart Chrome and try the login page again.
2. Try a different network (or switch off VPN/proxy temporarily)
A VPN, corporate proxy, school filter, or “security” Wi‑Fi can intercept HTTPS and cause Chrome to distrust the connection.
- Switch from Wi‑Fi to mobile hotspot (or vice versa) to compare.
- If you use a VPN, disconnect it for one test.
- If you’re on a managed/work network, ask whether HTTPS inspection is enabled.
If the warning disappears on another network, the problem is almost certainly the original network path—not your account.
3. Open the site in Incognito to rule out extensions and bad cache
Incognito usually disables most extensions and starts with a cleaner session.
- In Chrome: open a new Incognito window.
- Type the site address directly (don’t click old bookmarks).
- If it works in Incognito, an extension or stale site data is likely the cause.
4. Clear site data for the affected domain (cookies + cache for that site)
Sometimes Chrome keeps a bad redirect, a corrupted cached certificate chain, or broken session state for one domain.
- Open Chrome settings and search for “Site data”.
- Find the affected domain and remove data for that site.
- Reload and sign in again.
Tip: clear just the problem site first. You won’t log out everywhere else.
5. Check your antivirus/security app’s HTTPS scanning feature
On some systems, antivirus tools add their own “trusted” certificates to scan encrypted traffic. If that feature breaks or updates badly, Chrome may show privacy warnings—especially on sign-in pages.
- Look for settings like “HTTPS scanning,” “SSL scanning,” or “encrypted connections scanning.”
- Turn it off briefly to test (then decide whether to keep it off or update/reinstall the security tool).
- Update the antivirus and reboot if you keep the feature on.
6. Flush Chrome’s cached security state (HSTS) for that domain
Chrome can remember “always use HTTPS” (HSTS) and other security decisions for a domain. If a site or network is misconfigured, that cached rule can keep forcing the failure.
- In Chrome, open: chrome://net-internals/#hsts
- Under “Delete domain security policies,” enter the domain (example: example.com) and delete.
- Restart Chrome and try again.
If you’re not sure which exact domain is failing (login provider vs the site itself), check the warning page details and note the host it mentions.
7. Update Chrome (and your OS), then restart
Certificate validation and trusted root stores depend on up-to-date components. An outdated Chrome or OS can mis-handle newer certificate chains.
- Update Chrome to the latest version.
- Install pending OS updates (especially security updates).
- Fully restart the device (not just closing the lid).
Final thoughts
If the warning happens only on one Wi‑Fi network, treat it as a network interception issue and avoid signing in until it’s resolved.
If it happens across networks and devices for the same site, it may be the site’s certificate misconfiguration—wait a bit and/or contact the site’s support with the exact error code shown on the warning page.