How to Remove “Welcome to nginx” Virus and Fix Browser Redirecting Problem

Is the "Welcome to nginx" or “404 Not Found / nginx” message displayed on every popular website that you're browsing?

Welcome to nginx

In this article, I will show you the steps to fix the “Welcome to nginx” browser redirecting problem and remove the “Welcome to nginx” virus by using the redirect virus removal software tools.

What does "Welcome to nginx" mean?

Nginx is an open source web server software, the second popular web server software in the world (the most popular is Apache HTTP Server), and “Welcome to Nginx” is basically a diagnostic web page generated by web sites running on Nginx servers. Also, the “404 Not Found / nginx” message is the default displayed for opening a web page that doesn't exist.

When you try to open some popular websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinsterest or other well known ones, but your browser brings you to a blank page with a message referring to “Welcome to nginx!” or “404 Not Found / nginx”, it means your computer is infected with malicious software, because that there are only a few of the well known sites running Nginx web server.

Fix “Welcome to nginx” browser redirecting problem

The "Welcome to nginx" virus / malware will modify your hosts file, network settings and your internet search, when you visit a website or do google search, it will direct you to rogue address on the Internet instead of the real address of website, for instance, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, etc.

Step 1, Check Windows hosts file:

1. The "host" file is located in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc folder. The first step is to go to this folder.₍₁₎

   

   Figure a-1: A blank web page only contains "Welcome to nginx" message.

2. Right-clicking on the hosts file₍₂₎ and select Open from the context menu.
3. Open the "hosts" file with text editor software, if you don't have one, open it with Notepad ₍₃₎ (The built-in text editor in Windows system), and then click OK ₍₄₎.

   

   Figure a-2: Open file with Notepad.

4. Remove all the text below 127.0.0.1 ₍₅₎ and save.

   

   Figure a-3: Remove the malicious setting to fix "Welcome to nginx" problem.

Step 2, Check network settings:

1. Check if any change in your DNS settings. For the detailed steps you can read this article, [Change DNS settings in Windows 7]

   

   Figure a-4: Change DNS setting to fix "Welcome to nginx" problem.

2. It is highly recommended to use Google's Public DNS: 8.8.4.4 and 8.8.8.8, change your DNS settingS to Google's Public DNS, and then see if the browser redirecting problem is fixed.

After checking Step 1, 2 and the browser redirecting problem is still not fixed yet, check your browser's installed plugins and extensions, remove them or re-install your browser.

Remove “Welcome to nginx” virus / malware

Download those free anti-malware softwares to kill the malware:

• Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller by Kaspersky
  Download: http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208283363

• Anvi Smart Defender by Anvisoft
  Download: http://www.anvisoft.com/product/smartdefender.html

Hope my article will help you solve the "Welcome to nginx" problem.