Windows Me with Internet Explorer 6 refuses to display the Help and Support home page. I go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Help’ and an Internet Explorer window appears with the message ‘This page cannot be displayed’. The Internet Explorer address bar shows ‘C:WINDOWSHTMLHELP.HTM’. Re-visiting this URL displays a security warning that the certificate has expired, and offers the option to run ‘Windows Local Help’. Acceptance of this message causes the Help and Support home page to appear, and from then on things work normally. However, this long-winded procedure is quite frustrating just to display Help and Support! How can I restore the proper operation?

From my research I have been unable to find any reference to this type of error in connection with the Help and Support function in Windows Me. However, the description you provided seems to imply the Windows Me help is attempting to access an online help facility, provided through a website with a security certificate. However, the security certificate (i.e. the certificate which authenticates the provider of the website, and possibly encrypts the data being transferred between you and the provider) has expired. Therefore, Windows is not prepared to load the (non-authenticated and insecure) online help facility, but instead loads the help facility located on your local computer (i.e. Windows Local Help). From thereon the Windows help functions normally, because it is running locally from your computer.

As I have not been able to find other references to this problem, it is unlikely to be a problem with the online help website, but instead related to an issue with your computer. Firstly, make sure the date, time and the time zone are correctly set on your computer, in the ‘Date/Time’ control panel. This is one of the most common causes of error messages regarding expired security certificates. If the date and time are incorrect (e.g. incorrect year) the computer may think the certificate has expired or is not yet valid. At this stage, I do not have any more procedures you could apply should the date/time not be causing the problem. However, should the problem continue, please contact me again.