<!DOCTYPE article SYSTEM "../../../dtd/article.dtd">

<article name="I am trying to open Facebook and
                instead I am getting &ldquo;Welcome to nginx!&rdquo; page"
         link="/en/docs/welcome_nginx_facebook.html"
         lang="en">


<section>

<para>
<initial>Q:</initial>
I am trying to open Facebook, Yahoo!, Google, or some
other well-known web site and instead I am getting a blank web page
with a message referring to nginx: &ldquo;Welcome to nginx!&rdquo; or
&ldquo;404 Not Found / nginx&rdquo;.
</para>

<para>
I suspect something is wrong and there is probably a malicious attempt here
to direct me to a rogue web page (for hacking my computer, phishing etc.).
Why is that and what has nginx to do with my attempts to connect
to Facebook (Yahoo!, Google, etc.) ?
</para>

<para>
&nbsp;
</para>

<para>
<initial>A:</initial>
nginx is among the 3 most popular web servers in the world, it's being
used by over 10% of the Internet web sites, including 25% of the top-1000 ones.
It is a free open source server software, focused on high performance and
high concurrency, and it's absolutely legitimate and
has nothing to do with any kind of threatening or malicious activity per se.
A web page saying &ldquo;Welcome to nginx!&rdquo; is one of the diagnostics
responses that can be produced by any of the web sites running nginx.
</para>

<para>
However, you are right in your assumption that something must be wrong
with your computer or browser, or operating system setup when you are
trying to access a well known web site and instead of a familiar page you get
&ldquo;Welcome to nginx!&rdquo;. This should not happen if your computer
is clean and safe.
</para>

<para>
We recommend you to check and verify your entire system setup
(possibly with the help of your ISP or another support personnel),
and it would also be a good idea to install and run an anti-virus software
on your computer. It may happen that some malign entity is trying
to divert the traffic from your computer to a wrong server and
potentially cause significant harm to you and the other users on
the Internet.
</para>

<para>
What you should check is at least the following:
</para>

<para>
(Disclaimer: we at nginx are not responsible for any negative
impact or effects that the actions below might cause. Use the
following recommendations at your own risk, especially if
you aren't an experienced user of your operating system and/or
Internet applications. In no event shall nginx be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or
consequential damages, including, but not limited to loss of
use, data, or profits; or business interruption).
</para>

<para>
<list>
<listitem>
Check your TCP/IP settings and see if the DNS servers
configuration matches the one recommended by your Internet
service provider and/or your IT support personnel.
</listitem>

<listitem>
Check if the "hosts" file doesn't contain entries other
than "127.0.0.1 localhost", and if so &#8212; if these entries are for
the web site you're trying to reach and instead you're seeing a
wrong web site. The "hosts" files is located in
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc directory. Typically there should
be just one entry in it, for "127.0.0.1 localhost", that's it. The
"hosts" file can be viewed with your standard Notepad application.
</listitem>

<listitem>
Try to (temporarily) use Google Public DNS and see if
it fixes the problem. From Google's description of its Public DNS -
"Google Public DNS is a free, global Domain Name System (DNS)
resolution service,
that you can use as an alternative to your current DNS provider.
To try it out: Configure your network settings to use the IP
addresses 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as your DNS servers. [..] By
using Google Public DNS you can: Speed up your browsing
experience. Improve your security. Get the results you expect
with absolutely no redirection."
</listitem>

<listitem>
Try to clear browser data (cache, cookies etc.), e.g. perform
"Clear Browsing Data (Chrome)". Caution: you may be
deleting saved passwords information here, so do it carefully
and check what actions you are performing.
</listitem>

<listitem>
Try to check the plugins/extensions you've installed
for use with your browser. It might make sense to re-install
your favorite browser and/or try a different one if possible.
</listitem>

<listitem>
If cleaning "hosts" file (when applicable), changing
DNS servers to Google Public DNS, or fixing your browser
configuration have helped, it might be that there's a malware
somewhere on your PC or around. It makes perfect sense then
to run a number of checks using your preferred
anti-virus/anti-malware tools.
</listitem>
</list>
</para>

<para>
Links describing Google Public DNS:
</para>

<para>
<link url="http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/">
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/
</link>
</para>

<para>
<link url="http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html">
http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html
</link>
</para>

</section>

</article>