How to block pinion.gg motd adverts

This is how to block pinion.gg MOTD (message of the day) adverts from loading in-game. This is very likely to have caused you great rage and anger when playing one or more of the following titles:

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Counter-Strike: Source
• Day of Defeat: Source
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Left 4 Dead 1
• Half Life 2: Multiplayer
• Nuclear Dawn
• Team Fortress 2

Blocking this major nuisance is actually really easy, here is a very simple and safe method for doing so. Simply add the following to your hosts file:

127.0.0.1 pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 bin.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 blog.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 cdn.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 crm.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 cp.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 delivery.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 docs.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 kermit.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 legacy.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 log.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 mail.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 motd.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns1.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns2.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns3.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns4.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns5.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ns6.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 pinionprizes.gg
127.0.0.1 pog.gg
127.0.0.1 pog.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 stage.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 templ4d2.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 tix.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 video.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 voip.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 wiki.pinion.gg
#02 Feb 2013 update
127.0.0.1 oscar.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 ads.intergi.com
#6 March 2013 update
127.0.0.1 adback.pinion.gg
#7 June 2014 update
127.0.0.1 api.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 bork.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 calendar.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 direct.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 immuniser.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 mailer.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 office.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 pinion-log.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 quartermaster.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 seen.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 transcoded.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 www.pinion.gg
#24 Dec 2016 update
127.0.0.1 cf-protected-bin.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 cp-ng.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 creative.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 git.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 pog2.pinion.gg
127.0.0.1 transcoder.pinion.gg
#this company purchased pinion and some trackers are stored there now
127.0.0.1 unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 www.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 affiliates.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 auctionbot.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 blog.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 http.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 intranet.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 jira.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 logs.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 mcemails.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 news.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 news-static.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 static.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 stats.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 t.unikrn.com
127.0.0.1 wiki.unikrn.com 

These are just the domains I know, the more that are blocked the better.

For detailed instructions on editing your hosts file:
Windows Vista/7 - http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-hosts-file/
Windows XP - http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html
Wndows 8 - http://www.howtogeek.com/122404/how-to-block-websites-in-windows-8s-hosts-file/

When you have done it, restart your webbrowser then visit http://www.pinion.gg/ if it doesn't load then you've done it! Now enjoy your lag, crash, advert free gaming!

You can also block the domains at hardware router level if you know how to do this, main domains are pinion.gg | pinionprizes.gg | pog.gg | unikrn.com

• Pro-tip: Did you know that every time you enter a server with pinion adverts installed your Steam ID, IP address, date and time of entry, server:port you just connected to and what advert you just saw is logged on their servers without your permission? And then again whenever you disconnect from the server?

UPDATE: 2nd Feb 2013 - Added oscar.pinion.gg & ads.intergi.com. Intergi domain has started showing up in crash logs of TF2 alongside pinion adverts.

Team Fortress 2 Players Only

These commands are for TF2 only players to help get rid of adverts, add it to your autoexec.cfg file.
Take out any functions you don't want.

Combined with the above, these commands completely blocked the MOTD on TF2, not even an error message was found!


//------------------------------------------------
// TF2 Anti-Virus by Casual v1.0
//------------------------------------------------

// Protection against server_can_execute bypass
// Make your cfg/config.cfg read-only for extra protection
cl_allowupload 0
alias cl_allowupload "echo Blocked cl_allowupload!"
alias clear "echo Blocked clear!"
alias unbindall "echo Blocked unbindall!"

// Adblock for motd, extra protection:
// > Create an empty file in your tf directory named textwindow_temp.html and make it read-only (this prevents the motd from being saved & loaded)
// > Add '127.0.0.1 motd.pinion.gg' to your hosts file. This prevents a well known motd advertising network to load
cl_disablehtmlmotd 1
alias closed_htmlpage "echo Blocked pinion!"

// Gets rid of servers playing annoying sound files
alias play "echo Blocked play!"
alias sndplaydelay "echo Blocked sndplaydelay!"
alias playgamesound "echo Blocked playgamesound!"
alias soundfade "echo Blocked soundfade!"

// Servers don't need this
alias cl_spec_mode
alias rpt_connect
alias r_screenoverlay