I went to host the Red Gate SQL Source Control webinar recently and had a snag. I downloaded the GoToWebinar software (why must I download this every time?) and when I ran it, I got an error.

First it was a FireFox, “This security certificate is invalid” and I had to click the “I understand the risks” button to move forward. But then I got a dialog that said

“This security certificate has been revoked”

Now, a smart guy would click “cancel” because perhaps there’s some phishing or malicious behavior going on. Being in a hurry, I clicked “OK, move forward anyway, I don’t need no stinking certificates.” Maybe not smart, but it failed, so no big deal.

Fortunately I had been trying to connect 30 minutes early, so I had time. I called Citrix, and they attempted a remote desktop session, which failed for the same reasons. We chatted for a few minutes and the tech support guy said that the certificate didn’t expire for years, and could I try another machine.

I went out and was about to do so when I noticed that my clock said “8/19/2039”. It hadn’t registered before, but that time it did. 2039 is likely past the end of the Citrix security certificate’s lifetime.

I reset my clock, and things went well.

I’m not sure what happened. I used my machine early in the morning, took kids to school, and then came back to a machine that wouldn’t come out of suspend. I rebooted, and when it responded (some Java error on the screen, figures), things seemed to work. Except that the webinar didn’t.

I don’t know what causes a clock to slide, but this actually happened last year one time as well. This is a Win 7, x64 machine, and it surprised me that I got this much drift, if 29 years is “drift”, but it did.

On the bright side, the Win 7 year-changing dialog is kind of cool. You might play with it.