I run my laptop at work and the big LAN guys monitor various things
that could be suspect. Today I was told that nginx is running on my
laptop's IP, occasionally spiking, and making them nervous.

I run Windows Vista Home addition and I don't need a server on it. I
have been reading that nginx is a web servrer, like apache. Which is
all fine and good but I don't know how it got on my laptop, and I
don't know how to get it off.

Perhaps it installed with some other application? My work thinks it
may be spam, adware, malware, or otherwise malicious.

If anyone knows how I can remove this please let me know. I've spent
the last couple hours on google and all I can find about nginx is that
it's a web and mail server, I can't find what apps might use it, and
how I can remove it.

Thanks
Cynthia
http://www.lunatail.com

Cynthia Blue wrote:

> I run my laptop at work and the big LAN guys monitor various things
> that could be suspect. Today I was told that nginx is running on my
> laptop's IP, occasionally spiking, and making them nervous.
>
> I run Windows Vista Home addition and I don't need a server on it. I
> have been reading that nginx is a web servrer, like apache. Which is
> all fine and good but I don't know how it got on my laptop, and I
> don't know how to get it off.
>
> Perhaps it installed with some other application? My work thinks it
> may be spam, adware, malware, or otherwise malicious.
>
> If anyone knows how I can remove this please let me know. I've spent
> the last couple hours on google and all I can find about nginx is that
> it's a web and mail server, I can't find what apps might use it, and
> how I can remove it.

Well, something you installed (or inadvertently picked up) brought it along.
There isn't any way for people who can't see your computer to know what
that is. You should know what you installed lately.

If there is nothing in Programs & Features for you to remove:

1. Do some real malware scanning:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

2. If the computer turns out to be clean, then do clean-boot troubleshooting
to find out what's running and manage it:

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista -
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;EN-US;929135

Start Orb>Start Search box>msconfig [enter]

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation,
type the password, or click Continue. Then see what is on the Startup tab.
You don't need to restart immediately, but the next time you do you'll get
a dialog saying you've used the Utility. Usually in Vista this will be
blocked by Windows Defender and you'll need to allow it so you can then
tick the box that says in effect, "don't bother me about this again".

Important - Do not use the System Configuration Utility to stop processes.
Instead, use Start>Run>services.msc [enter] and do not stop any services
unless you really, really know what you're doing.

The free Autoruns program is very useful for managing your Startup -
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...s/default.mspx - Autoruns

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Cynthia,

Better follow Malke's advice a do some scanning.

Read over this site, don't think you will be to happy :<(
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=1&gl=us

Originally, nginx was developed to fill the needs of various websites run by
Rambler. According to the January 2008 Netcraft survey, nginx is now used on
842,206 domains, making it the 6th most popular web server. Large sites that
use nginx include:

YouPorn [1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouPorn

hulu [2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulu
In addition, Zimbra includes nginx as POP3 and IMAP proxy/router

BTW, if you install anything from anywhere ALWAYS use the option if
available and use Custom install. There's lots of junk added with today's
software the user never knows about when they select Typical.


--
All the best,
SG

Is your computer system ready for Vista?
https://winqual.microsoft.com/hcl/

"Cynthia Blue" <tiptailer******.com> wrote in message
news:8993f4ac-fb42-4ecd-9e86-9dbc8e9a2c63@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>I run my laptop at work and the big LAN guys monitor various things
> that could be suspect. Today I was told that nginx is running on my
> laptop's IP, occasionally spiking, and making them nervous.
>
> I run Windows Vista Home addition and I don't need a server on it. I
> have been reading that nginx is a web servrer, like apache. Which is
> all fine and good but I don't know how it got on my laptop, and I
> don't know how to get it off.
>
> Perhaps it installed with some other application? My work thinks it
> may be spam, adware, malware, or otherwise malicious.
>
> If anyone knows how I can remove this please let me know. I've spent
> the last couple hours on google and all I can find about nginx is that
> it's a web and mail server, I can't find what apps might use it, and
> how I can remove it.
>
> Thanks
> Cynthia
> http://www.lunatail.com

Thanks so much for your replies. I am going over the instructions now
and doing a thorough analysis of my laptop to determine any malicious
threats. So far nothing has been found. I'm running AVG Anti-Spyware
now. Looks like a very nice program and I might just buy it. Nice to
have an Adware and Virus scanner both in the same application.

I'll do the clean boot after these scans are done.

I'd love to find an application and bandwidth monitor that tells me
what applications are using what bandwidth. Something easy to
understand, too. I have found lots of bandwidth meters but haven't
seen any that meter by application.

Cyn

Cynthia Blue wrote:

> Thanks so much for your replies. I am going over the instructions now
> and doing a thorough analysis of my laptop to determine any malicious
> threats. So far nothing has been found. I'm running AVG Anti-Spyware
> now. Looks like a very nice program and I might just buy it. Nice to
> have an Adware and Virus scanner both in the same application.
>
> I'll do the clean boot after these scans are done.
>
> I'd love to find an application and bandwidth monitor that tells me
> what applications are using what bandwidth. Something easy to
> understand, too. I have found lots of bandwidth meters but haven't
> seen any that meter by application.

I believe that Sysinternals' free TCP View (the name might be a tad
different since I'm going from memory) will do that for you.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sys...s/default.mspx

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!