If you’re getting an error similar to “The server you connected to is using a certificate that cannot be verified. The target principal name is incorrect.” This article should help.

In the current internet environment it’s important to have the data traveling between the server and your computer encrypted. An SSL Certificate is a piece of code that the server uses to encrypt the connection between your computer’s email program and the server. This keeps that information private. Our staff is happy to configure and install an SSL Certificate if you wish to purchase one but there are other options you might consider.

We provide a private certificate for free with each account but these certificates aren’t formally recognized by some software. Your email software wants you to buy a certificate from us. You should have the option to “bypass” or “create an exception” in a dialog box that pops up. If not, there is probably a way to do that but you’ll need to contact the tech support service of the software developer of your email program for instructions.

One alternative that you can do at no added expense is to use our server name since we’ve installed a certificate there for you to use. Here are the instructions on where to get the information needed to put into your desktop software, but if you need help in setting your email software, you would need to contact your email software’s tech support department (or just do a search for the error you’re getting):

  1. Log into your control panel on our server (If you need the password reset and resent to you, just ask)
  2. Click on the “Email Accounts” icon.
  3. Click on the “Set Up Email Client” link to the right of the email box you’re configuring. There you’ll find a box that is labeled, “Secure SSL/TLS Settings (Recommended)” and in that box are the setting you’ll need to put into your email program.

This should eliminate the dialog box and give you secured access to your email.