Annoying internet stuff (SSL)

[tazdevil]

Just heard the validity for SSL certificates is changing to a maximum of 200 days. All that means is more frequent faffing to update the various certificates. Not a huge problem but why does the administrative burden have to be doubled down on all the time! It's bad enough with all the nonsense to prove identity and so forth and agree to popups and what not Identity thieves must love all these databases collecting all this compromising data, still I enjoy poisoning those databases whenever I can

[xoggoth]

Another annoying thing if you have a business website. Still, not as annoying as bluddy HMRC forcing us to use purchased software to do CT and Companies House submissions! My Excel sheets worked nicely.

[NotAllThere]

Another annoying thing if you have a business website. Still, not as annoying as bluddy HMRC forcing us to use purchased software to do CT and Companies House submissions! My Excel sheets worked nicely.

According to the Murdoch Times, free software is available for this purpose.

[xoggoth]

According to the Murdoch Times, free software is available for this purpose

Cheers NAT, not sure what is free, info all a bit conflicting but I'll have to look at it. Dunno why HMRC can't provide a simple website for small companies.

[hobnob]

Just heard the validity for SSL certificates is changing to a maximum of 200 days.

There's a bit more info here:
TLS Certificate Lifetimes Will Officially Reduce to 47 Days | DigiCert

• From today [May 16, 2025] until March 15, 2026, the maximum lifetime for a TLS certificate is 398 days.
• As of March 15, 2026, the maximum lifetime for a TLS certificate will be 200 days.
• As of March 15, 2027, the maximum lifetime for a TLS certificate will be 100 days.
• As of March 15, 2029, the maximum lifetime for a TLS certificate will be 47 days.

The idea is to push people towards automation rather than manual renewals, so in the long term this should mean less faffing around.

[ladymuck]

According to the Murdoch Times, free software is available for this purpose.

Hmm... Most places claiming to be free still make a charge at some point in the process. A 10 minute search, clicking on everything that mentioned 'free', didn't reveal anything that was completely free.

[tazdevil]

The idea is to push people towards automation rather than manual renewals, so in the long term this should mean less faffing around.

True but that means the built in automation of big co's standard web service platforms. My servers use my web services platform developed by myco. Just have to build in the necessary to automate the process To be honest it just takes a couple of minutes to process and upload a new certificate but its the remembering to do it that's the pain especially when I'm away at the time slumming it on a cruise ship

[sadkingbilly]

Hmm... Most places claiming to be free still make a charge at some point in the process. A 10 minute search, clicking on everything that mentioned 'free', didn't reveal anything that was completely free.

yes, - 'free download' means just that.
It's free to download, not to run.

[SimonMac]

Cheers NAT, not sure what is free, info all a bit conflicting but I'll have to look at it. Dunno why HMRC can't provide a simple website for small companies.

https://makingtaxdigital.campaign.go...ital-software/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-that-works-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax

[xoggoth]

"A 10 minute search, clicking on everything that mentioned 'free', didn't reveal anything that was completely free"

Same here. Probably best so far for small companies is tinytax, £49. Just for submissions, I can still use my Excel accounts sheets to do the calculations. I didn't want to learn how to use a new accounting system.

https://tinytax.co.uk/submission-for...umber=04943332