diff --git a/src/gui/qgshelp.cpp b/src/gui/qgshelp.cpp
index e6633b9df855..dd545fb4daa6 100644
--- a/src/gui/qgshelp.cpp
+++ b/src/gui/qgshelp.cpp
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ bool QgsHelp::urlExists( const QString &url )
     socket.setProxy( proxy );
   }
 
-  socket.connectToHost( helpUrl.host(), 80 );
+  socket.connectToHost( helpUrl.host(), 443 );
   if ( socket.waitForConnected() )
   {
     socket.write( "HEAD " + helpUrl.path().toUtf8() + " HTTP/1.1\r\n"