My laptop, which I use a wireless router on, won’t let me view secure web sites. How can I change this?
Nothing stopping your laptop from viewing secure web sites. That would be the browser.
But most browsers today can do secure web sites.
Is it a problem with all web sites, or one in particular?
I have a friend that can’t use his company’s vpn client at home because he has an older AirPort for his Macs. The wireless router itself won’t handle the level of encryption needed.
Check the router specs at the vendor’s web page. Is it designed to handle the encryption you are looking for? Probably looking for something like 128 bit encryption. My friend’s router is only designed to handle 64bit.
I can view any page that doesn’t have the little lock symbol in the lower corner. Any page that is secure just gives me the “page can not be viewed, click here to detect network settings” thing. There must be some security setting somewhere that I can change but I’ve looked around and can’t find it.
There are loads of tiny things that could be wrong here.
Not knowing your OS and browser type isn’t gonna help thought.
Secure http (https) runs off port 443, not port 80 like http. If your network/router/proxy(?) setup is particularly demented, this might cause a problem.
Mayhaps your browser doesn’t support 128 bit encryption. I recall hearing that IE needed an upgrade for this. Perhaps it was a fevered dream. Check Windows Update just in case. (Assuming you’re running IE on an MS type platform).
You could narrow down the possibilities by using another browser. Try Mozilla. If it works, it’s your old browser’s fault. Hee hee. You’ll never want to switch back!
So those are what occur to me right off the bat. Post some more info and someone might be able to help more. 
The upgrade Nanoda is talking about can be found on pre-XP systems by clicking help->about internet explorer in an IE window - and “update information” on the second line down.
NB - if the “cipher strength” line shows 128-bit, this upgrade won’t help.
You didn’t mention if you are using a software firewall or other security program on your laptop. Some of these block port 443 (https) by default. There are a number of reasons for this [especially for laptops is configured for possible use on a corporate LAN], but it’s a tough call, and the firewall authors know it, so they often have a separate checkbox to make it easy to specifically re-enable it. In Norton Internet Security, for example, the checkbox is found (rather counterintuitively, IMHO) under “Privacy controls”
If you use such a program look for a setting to allow https or SSL