Don't let the plugin notification icon bother you. If you turn on "click to play" for Flash, it will be useful, but otherwise, is just for information.

The gray exclamation triangle is a little confusing because there are two different types of information mixed together in that icon:

(1) Not supplying identity information: this indicates that there is a valid security certificate, but it is an ordinary certificate and not an EVSSL (green lock) certificate. Same as a gray padlock, as far as the main page goes. So that part of the message is not worrisome unless the site used to show a green padlock before.

(2) Gray exclamation-triangle: this indicates that that the page contains "mixed" content. More specifically, although the page was retrieved through an encrypted connection (HTTPS) with a valid certificate, something in the page was retrieved over an open connection.

To discover the non-secure content, you can look in Firefox's Browser Console:

• Windows: Ctrl+Shift+j
• Mac: Command+Shift+j
• Menu Bar: Tools > Web Developer > Browser Console
• (Win) orange Firefox button > Web Developer > Browser Console

Once you have that open, you likely will see lots of stuff. To filter the list, type mix into the search/filter box at the upper right.

At this point, you can decide whether you are concerned about the non-secure content. For example, perhaps it's something from the same site that they mistakenly forgot to serve with an HTTPS URL. (Screen shot example attached.) But, you may discover that it's from a different site and then you can start to assess whether there might be something suspicious going on with the page. If you start seeing a pattern, perhaps one of your extensions is injecting advertising into the pages... or worse.

Note: You can keep the Browser Console window open (minimized) with the filter set to mix for quicker reference if you're seeing this often.

Thanks for your reply. The issue I have is that this didn't happen before and now it is happening on pretty much all Youtube videos and I get the ! error on lots of trusted websites, like Youtube and Facebook, etc. There must be something wrong. I have checked my clock, deleted the cert8 file, cleared to defaults on my McAfee Firewall, reinstalled Firefox and Flash, tried running in safemode, etc. and nothing seems to work. What can I do next? I will add two photos to show the 2 separate issues.

I have added 3 separate images now. Please help me!!! Thanks!

Hi M1K3Y1, to see whether one of your extensions is injecting something non-secure into the page, try visiting Youtube in Firefox's Safe Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled (Flash will siyll work)

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Is the problem resolved?

Did you open the Browser Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer;Ctrl+Shift+J) or Web Console and searched for mixed content with a red bar at the left?

That is the only way to see which content is causing the exclamation mark to appear.

• https://developer.mozilla.org/Browser_Console
• https://developer.mozilla.org/Tools/Web_Console

Hi, I have used the broswer console and get the attached. I don't know what it means though. I have started in Safe Mode but still get the ! error. I'm getting it on Youtube, Facebook, Hotmail, etc. These are trusted websites so shouldn't be getting this. The reason I have not come back until recently is because I got so sick and tired of trying to work it out that I did a restore back to about a month ago and that seemed to cure it for a while but now it's back again!!!!!! Please for the love of God help!!! :)

Hi M1K3Y1, it seems that the "Security" messages are turned off in your screen shot. Can you click that "Security" button above the list in the Browser Console to make sure they are displayed?

Then reload the page and use mix in the filter box again (as described in the earlier post) to see whether that surfaces the source of the non-secure content.

Thanks. Here you go.

I don't know why Youtube would be pulling in content from googlevideo.com, and why it not be using a secure connection.

I notice in your screen shot it has GB next to the Youtube logo, yet it is hosted on youtube.com. There may be something different in the page that I won't be able to replicate.

OK. Thanks. I think Googlevideo.com acquired Youtube.com. The GB just signified that I'm in the Great Britain. As I said, this isn't just happening on Youtube but Hotmail and Facebook. Other people have mentioned issues with the timeclock. My time / date looks OK or am I missing something? This really is driving me insane! What is wrong here!?

I don't know if this helps but it sometimes starts out with the padlock to indicate OK and then turns into the ! in grey triangle after about 5+ seconds. Sometimes it takes a bit longer and sometimes not at all. If I get the ! and then refresh the page it goes back to the padlock but then back to ! after a while. Weird. I'm up to date with antivirus, etc.

On Facebook, because anyone can post anything, it doesn't surprise me that you would see some non-secure content in the newsfeed.

On Hotmail, if you are seeing images in the message body, it could be the same issue: the sender linked using regular HTTP links instead of using HTTPS links.

So these could be the typical kinds of issues that have always occurred, but before the triangle was there, you never knew about them.

Oh, the date and time issue is for something else: when you clock is wrong, Firefox may report that many or most security certificates are invalid. That generates a huge error page, so probably not a factor here with the icon indicating some insecure display content.