HTTPS

I am surprised you don't know about this! How long have you been using the Web?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol over Secure Socket Layer, or HTTP over SSL. It is a security feature used by sites which want to safeguard confidential or sensitive information. There are many many sites which use it.

The 's' stands for 'secure'. The https:// string at the start of a URL indicates that the connection is being made through SSL, the secured sockets layer. In other words, it is encrypted. This means, in theory, that confidential or secret data such as credit card details or bank account passwords cannot be intercepted by third parties.

If you are using Internet Explorer in Windows, when you are connected to an HTTPS site you should see a little padlock symbol in the right hand part of the status bar at the bottom of the window.

Google for Secure Socket Layer for more information.

This type of connection is used when confidential data is being sent from your browser, for example when you go online to check your bank account details or make credit card payments online or access your ebay or paypal account or suchlike.

Why do you want to stop it? If you go to a secure website that requires SSL, and you browser supports SSL, that's the type of connection you'll get. If you disable ssl in your browser, you won't be able to connect to those sites which require it.

Here is an article which explains the technology in more detail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Https

You would definitely WANT a secure site if you are doing banking, giving out credit card information, or sending other sensitive stuff over the net that you don't want hijacked!