I just installed a new RAX10, which was a pain to install, unlike other routers I have owned. Now, it is finding every new site that I try to visit is unsafe. When I say proceed anyway, it has been taking me to the router sign-in. When I sign in, I am presented with ads for Netgear support for about $79. After I read the ad and close that paged, I can use my browser normally. This has happened once with every browser on my computer. Is this typical of how Netgear is going to be in my face and wasting my time with false security alerts just so they can put an ad in front of me? If so, this router goes back to the store.
Now, it is finding every new site that I try to visit is unsafe.
Your router isn't likely to get in the way of your browsing. A more likely source of this intrusion is the browser you use, or possibly your operating system. Tried a different browser?
What is the exact message that you see?
When I say proceed anyway, it has been taking me to the router sign-in. When I sign in, I am presented with ads for Netgear support for about $79.
That is suspicious. What are you asked to sign into? The address?
What is this $79 supposed to provide? Netgear does try to push its Armor security service, but that isn't something that you should see in normal operation. It can get in the way when you try using the Nighthawk app for the first time.
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I just installed a new RAX10, which was a pain to install, unlike other routers I have owned.
That is also not typical and makes me suspect that something went wrong when you set up this thing/
What firmware version do you have on the device?
A number is more useful than "the latest". (It may not be by the time people read this.) There can also be newer versions, or "hot fixes", that do not show up if you check for new firmware in the browser interface.
It might also help if you told people what the modem is in front of this router, if there is one. The make and model number could be useful. Is it, by any chance, also a router, with a set of LAN ports on the back?
The reason for asking is that a lot of people turn up here trying to put a router behind a modem that is also a router. That can complicate troubleshooting.
Re: Why is my new router saying every site is unsafe?
MichaelKenward,
Thanks for your reply. In answer to your questions:
--This was happening with Firefox, Chrome and Edge, in other words, every browser I have. Apparently, I have to see the ad once (so far), then it doesn't appear again. I have gone through it with Firefox and Chrome, but not yet with Edge.
--The exact message (as best I remember) is "Unsafe site. The site is using a certificate that is expired or not current." Then I can either "Go back" or "Advanced", which gives me the option of taking a big chance by going to "dangerous" site, such as mozilla.org."
--When I choose to proceed, I see an ad for the Netgear ongoing support. I don't remember the exact URL, but it included netgear.com. The ongoing support also was marketed to me by the tech who walked me through the installation.
--I don't have the firmware number, but I have whatever downloaded as soon as I had the router operational at about 2 p.m. PDT on Monday, October 24. It happened on its own.
--The modem in front of it is a DOCSIS3 modem by Arris. I don't use the modem provided by Spectrum because they charge for it.
Re: Why is my new router saying every site is unsafe?
Are you using and 3rd party security software?
One behavior of the router can cause issues with some security applications. For example, some applications may find it to be a security issue when a user tried to load a site like google and because the router is not fully set up, the router intercepts the page load and tries to redirect to router setup page. Even worse is an annoying behavior with newer Netgear firmware where instead of sticking with the router IP address, it will try to redirect to routerlogin.net The problem is that it will try that even if it is behind another router, and depending on how DNS is being handled on your PC, it could attempt to look for that URL on the WAN, and if security software is not specifically set up to be aware of scenarios like that, it could cause them to go crazy, thinking that there is something hijacking your WAN traffic (because the router technically is doing that to the requests, only thing is that it is a non-malicious use of that capability).
The easiest way to avoid this, if it there is an issue, head to the router's IP address and make sure it is fully set up so it doesn't try to intercept requests and direct you to the router setup page. If there is an issue with the setup, then it may be worth doing a factory reset of the router. Also make sure you are not behind double NAT (Netgear router in router mode behind another router/ gateway device).
Re: Why is my new router saying every site is unsafe?
I just got a new RAXE500 aand saw the same thing. I think it has something to do with the routers internal clock. but don't quote me on that. by the time i finished setting up the router settings, it had gone away. i think the warnings can be safely ignored as long as you only visit well known sites. in my case one of those warnings was handed out for this site, which was kinda funny if you ask me.
Re: Why is my new router saying every site is unsafe?
If another router is having the same issue, and if the router is fully set up, then chances are that the issue is something else. While the router will get its time from an atomic clock server, it defaults to GMT-8 as the time zone, though since routers use self signed certificates anyway, they will never be trusted by default.
On the other hand on client devices, a timezone that is too far off of your current one, can cause security certificate issues since certificate management has gotten more strict over the years and the default behavior has become to be extremely sensitive to time. The only time you will encounter security warnings is if you have security software that doesn't k ow how to handle router setup page redirects. On rare cases, you can encounter a bad anti-virus install where the software fails to install its own root certificate, since for them to be able to scan that traffic, they need to have a root certificate on to avoud causing the browser to freak out when it intercepts the encrypted traffic.
The RAXE500 doesn't mess with WAN traffic outside of the initial setup, unless you enable the armor service, which will intercept known malicious DNS requests.
If possible, double check the time on your PC, as well as look at the details of any SSL errors to see the details about what certificate is being used.
Re: Why is my new router saying every site is unsafe?
in my case for some reason the raxe500 defaulted to London time. I am on the West coast of USA, so there was a big time difference that the router would have been reporting. issue went away after I setup the router (and fixed the clock setting). setting the router to PST fixed it for me
