MQL5 website appears weird - page 3
You are missing trading opportunities:
- Free trading apps
- Over 8,000 signals for copying
- Economic news for exploring financial markets
Registration
Log in
You agree to website policy and terms of use
If you do not have an account, please register
So as suspected, the issue is resolving c.mql5.com, but why remains unknown. One hint is that ping returned "Pinging c.mql5.com [::1] with 32 bytes of data". That empty address is an IPv6 address rather than an IPv4 address, which begs the question of where it is coming from—it could be your router (any adblocking/content filtering/parental controls enabled on it?), your ISP (if your router is using their DNS servers for domain resolution), or if something is configured incorrectly in the wild world of IPv6—which could be anywhere from your ISP to MetaQuotes' servers. The thing that is particularly weird about this is that you had no issues resolving "www.mql5.com" to an IPv4 address as expected, but "c.mql5.com" is returning an empty IPv6 address. Both of these responses should be coming from the same DNS server at "mql5.com"; if you were querying an invalid address at that server, the expected result would be something like "Ping request could not find host d.mql5.com; please check the name and try again" instead of an empty address. This seems to suggest that that specific domain is recognized as existing, but is being blocked from proper resolution for some reason.
Since this is easy to do and get out of the way, let's check your HOSTS file by pressing [Windows] + [R], typing "notepad drivers\etc\hosts", and pressing [Enter]. Notepad should open with the HOSTS file. Normally, it is a short template file, with every line commented out (i.e. preceded by a "#" character, so no active entries). There should be no mention of MQL anything in here. Basically, this file is a configurable static list of DNS names to IP mappings. This file is consulted first when looking up a site, and if there is no static mapping for a particular site and nothing in the Windows DNS cache, Windows sends a DNS query to the DNS server configured for your network connection. Some softwares modify this file to block ads or unwanted sites systemwide by adding hundreds or thousands of entries to this list and routing them all to a dead end (usually 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1). If you find that this file is in fact populated with pages of entries, you can use Notepad's search function to look for "mql", but this is quite unlikely.
Assuming that all was normal there, if you have familiarity with configuring your router, I would suggest finding where you can manually specify your DNS servers on your router, and entering 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 (Google and Cloudflare; usually there are two for this). Or try 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS). Reboot your router and PC to immediately purge any cached (and potentially incorrect) information and try the site again. This would eliminate any potential DNS weirdness from your ISP out of the equation. If you can't figure it out in your router (or changing it there doesn't fix the issue—which would suggest it's not your ISP, but maybe router or PC), you could always configure it directly in Windows. To do this in Windows 11, right-click your Network icon, click Network and Internet settings, choose the connection your PC is connecting through (Ethernet if wired, Wi-Fi -> {name} properties if wireless), and then Edit (next to DNS server assignment) -> Manual -> IPv4 on -> 8.8.8.8 preferred, 1.1.1.1 alternate -> DNS over HTTPS off -> IPv6 off -> [Save]. To undo, you'd just select Automatic (DHCP) instead of Manual -> [Save]. Generally, your router and ISP are used by default to reduce delay and susceptibility to lost packets as both of these hops are nearby and cache requests from a larger pool of devices; since your router appears to have a local DNS server, bypassing your ISP on your router by having it contact trusted DNS servers directly isn't a bad idea, but I would avoid the last option of configuring it on Windows as a long-term solution if possible.
So as suspected, the issue is resolving c.mql5.com, but why remains unknown. One hint is that ping returned "Pinging c.mql5.com [::1] with 32 bytes of data". That empty address is an IPv6 address rather than an IPv4 address, which begs the question of where it is coming from—it could be your router (any adblocking/content filtering/parental controls enabled on it?), your ISP (if your router is using their DNS servers for domain resolution), or if something is configured incorrectly in the wild world of IPv6—which could be anywhere from your ISP to MetaQuotes' servers. The thing that is particularly weird about this is that you had no issues resolving "www.mql5.com" to an IPv4 address as expected, but "c.mql5.com" is returning an empty IPv6 address. Both of these responses should be coming from the same DNS server at "mql5.com"; if you were querying an invalid address at that server, the expected result would be something like "Ping request could not find host d.mql5.com; please check the name and try again" instead of an empty address. This seems to suggest that that specific domain is recognized as existing, but is being blocked from proper resolution for some reason.
Since this is easy to do and get out of the way, let's check your HOSTS file by pressing [Windows] + [R], typing "notepad drivers\etc\hosts", and pressing [Enter]. Notepad should open with the HOSTS file. Normally, it is a short template file, with every line commented out (i.e. preceded by a "#" character, so no active entries). There should be no mention of MQL anything in here. Basically, this file is a configurable static list of DNS names to IP mappings. This file is consulted first when looking up a site, and if there is no static mapping for a particular site and nothing in the Windows DNS cache, Windows sends a DNS query to the DNS server configured for your network connection. Some softwares modify this file to block ads or unwanted sites systemwide by adding hundreds or thousands of entries to this list and routing them all to a dead end (usually 0.0.0.0 or 127.0.0.1). If you find that this file is in fact populated with pages of entries, you can use Notepad's search function to look for "mql", but this is quite unlikely.
Assuming that all was normal there, if you have familiarity with configuring your router, I would suggest finding where you can manually specify your DNS servers on your router, and entering 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 (Google and Cloudflare; usually there are two for this). Or try 208.67.220.220 and 208.67.222.222 (OpenDNS). Reboot your router and PC to immediately purge any cached (and potentially incorrect) information and try the site again. This would eliminate any potential DNS weirdness from your ISP out of the equation. If you can't figure it out in your router (or changing it there doesn't fix the issue—which would suggest it's not your ISP, but maybe router or PC), you could always configure it directly in Windows. To do this in Windows 11, right-click your Network icon, click Network and Internet settings, choose the connection your PC is connecting through (Ethernet if wired, Wi-Fi -> {name} properties if wireless), and then Edit (next to DNS server assignment) -> Manual -> IPv4 on -> 8.8.8.8 preferred, 1.1.1.1 alternate -> DNS over HTTPS off -> IPv6 off -> [Save]. To undo, you'd just select Automatic (DHCP) instead of Manual -> [Save]. Generally, your router and ISP are used by default to reduce delay and susceptibility to lost packets as both of these hops are nearby and cache requests from a larger pool of devices; since your router appears to have a local DNS server, bypassing your ISP on your router by having it contact trusted DNS servers directly isn't a bad idea, but I would avoid the last option of configuring it on Windows as a long-term solution if possible.
If you didnt put them in the HOSTS file, then someone else did. That would mean that you have a virus or a hacker has accessed your computer and changed that file, OR someone else with access to your computer has played a joke on you.
Another reason maybe company security or your companys I.T department has blocked all mtX addresses to save bandwidth on the companys internet.
But assuming that you do not have a virus, then, it is simple to clean the HOSTS file, just search google.
If you do have a virus, then most likely that the HOSTS file will be changed again after you have cleaned it.So it turns out my HOSTS file is entirely populated with nothing but variations of MQL5.com, c.mql5.com mql5.net, metatrader4.com, metatrader5.com, meta quotes.net, and finteza.com. All of them routes to 127.0.0.1.
Wow. I have no idea how it would end up like this—seeing that the domains are all MetaQuotes domains, it seems very targeted, unlike what one might expect from an average virus. It would be curious to see the Modified date on your current HOSTS file (you can find it in File Explorer at "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc"). That might provide some insight on when the offending software made this change, which could help you narrow down what you might have been doing at that time (and keep in mind that modifying that file requires administrative privileges). Ironically, this change will not block MetaQuotes software from working or consuming Internet bandwidth as all their software uses its own DNS system apart from Windows—this just messes with web browsers system-wide when trying to visit their website.
Anyway, to restore your HOSTS file to default, press [Windows] + [R], type "notepad drivers\etc\hosts", and press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Shift] + [Enter]. Confirm launching Notepad as Administrator. Copy the text in the code box below to your clipboard, go back to Notepad, press [Ctrl] + [A], then [Ctrl] + [V], and then [Ctrl] + [S], and close Notepad. Hopefully this will work; Microsoft's needless changing of core tools like Notepad to the lame UWP platform could cause issues here due to not being able to run as Administrator (I have fixed all my PCs to restore the classic Notepad and cannot test that these steps would work on an unmodified installation). If you get an access denied error (or a Save As dialog), save the edited HOSTS file to your desktop and then manually move it to "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc", replacing the existing HOSTS file. This should fix the issue right away. If it keeps coming back, there are things we can do in realtime to try to track down what software is responsible for the unauthorized changes to that file.
Wow. I have no idea how it would end up like this—seeing that the domains are all MetaQuotes domains, it seems very targeted, unlike what one might expect from an average virus. It would be curious to see the Modified date on your current HOSTS file (you can find it in File Explorer at "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc"). That might provide some insight on when the offending software made this change, which could help you narrow down what you might have been doing at that time (and keep in mind that modifying that file requires administrative privileges). Ironically, this change will not block MetaQuotes software from working or consuming Internet bandwidth as all their software uses its own DNS system apart from Windows—this just messes with web browsers system-wide when trying to visit their website.
Anyway, to restore your HOSTS file to default, press [Windows] + [R], type "notepad drivers\etc\hosts", and press [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Shift] + [Enter]. Confirm launching Notepad as Administrator. Copy the text in the code box below to your clipboard, go back to Notepad, press [Ctrl] + [A], then [Ctrl] + [V], and then [Ctrl] + [S], and close Notepad. Hopefully this will work; Microsoft's needless changing of core tools like Notepad to the lame UWP platform could cause issues here due to not being able to run as Administrator (I have fixed all my PCs to restore the classic Notepad and cannot test that these steps would work on an unmodified installation). If you get an access denied error (or a Save As dialog), save the edited HOSTS file to your desktop and then manually move it to "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc", replacing the existing HOSTS file. This should fix the issue right away. If it keeps coming back, there are things we can do in realtime to try to track down what software is responsible for the unauthorized changes to that file.
Hi Shalem,
I was able to follow your instructions and changed the text in the HOSTS file to what was in your code box.
I am currently on the MQL5 website right now on desktop and the problem seems to be restored across all my browsers.
Now that I think about it, I was also unable to download any MT4 or MT5 .exe installation files from any broker's websites during the same time period and this explains why.
And the original HOSTS file was modified on December 13th 2023 just after midnight. Which I suspect was around the same time these problems started. How and why the file was modified is beyond me, but that's in the past now.
If any of these issues re-appear I will let you know, but this should be the fix I was looking for all along.
Thank you for your patience and your easy-to-follow instructions!