This is a method to avoid Fake Servers that suits games like Counter-Strike 1.6 that have no other methods like Source 1 games (CS:S) have.

Introduction

Blacklisting server IP's requires a lot of effort, it requires some advanced skills and tools to keep your in game server list clean and usable.

I think it is fair to say Counter-Strike 1.6 on Steam is so full of Fake and dangerous servers, blacklisting is almost useless. It is by far the worst affected game on steam with my own research showing Chinese and Russian Scammers adding around 11,000 fake servers to CS 1.6 in early October 2025 alone.

Whitelisting (that is a list of good servers) is a more manageable tactic.

This can be easy, grab a recommended IP and port from a server list or a friend, website and add that in the "Favorites" tab.

Let's look at a method you can do while in-game without using a external browser... or the "Internet" tab as it is... completely useless.

INDEX

Safe Server Browsing via Steam Overlay  
Set up in the Steam Client Some steps before you start the game.
Bookmarking BattleMetrics (CS 1.6 Example) An example of a game server search site and bookmarking it
Building your Whitelist from the in-game web browser. The Whitelist, how to grab info and save it.
Conclusion Why this may be the only way forward.

 

Set up in the Steam Client

Why this matters.
Steam’s overlay browser can freeze if it restores tabs from a previous session — especially if those tabs include "modal-heavy" pages like installers or login prompts.

  1. Open Steam.
  2. Go to Settings > In-Game.
  3. Disable: “Restore previous browser tabs”
  4. Set homepage to https://duckduckgo.com

More info if required or just move to the next step....

Why DuckDuckGo?

  • DuckDuckGo search page allows bookmarking without sign-in
  • Shows favorites on the new tab page, and...
  • Lets you rename bookmarks — perfect for a non sign-in solution.
  • Works on any OS
  • Is known to be secure and easy to use.

More about Steam's in-game overlay issues.

It is basically "safe" but also has many bugs. 

Overlay browser safety (Steam Forum)

Steam's own browser is no longer secure enough to sign into my YT account? (Reddit)

Is the steam web browser secure? (Reddit)

 

Bookmarking BattleMetrics (CS 1.6 Example)

Why BattleMetrics?

It's to start you off, after you go through this part you can expand this method to other games via other lists. BattleMetrics allows deep filtering by country, game, and spoof behavior. Filters are encoded in the URL, so bookmarking preserves your exact search. This site isn't the only one you can use but for CS 1.6 it has some great features.

What to do next

We are about to open CS 1.6 and you may have to alter your video settings to run in a window so you can still use this page.

Or... maybe copy this page link now and use that in a new tab in the duckduckgo browser... https://www.dodbits.com/dods/index.php/source-graphics/game-server-set-up/make-a-whitelist-to-avoid-fake-server-spam-cs-1-6-steam

  1. Open DuckDuckGo in Steam overlay (Shift + Tab) then look for the "Web Browser" icon  (looks like a compass between the controller and friends icon... not the globe icon) 
  2. Search for "Battlemetrics" open the "Servers" link
  3. In the "Search" area select "Counter-Strike" Press search. Note the web address as you add "filters" it changes up there? e.g.: ..... search?game=cs
  4.  From there look at the other filters, use them. In the server status note the green tick? It's for showing only on-line servers. Next is the country filter, now we can just put one country or a few to include them... but we can also press the NOT word there to exclude them. So as we know China and Russia are the main Fake server countries to block... the NOT button. Or use the OR button and select a country like "United States". Press search again... note the change in the web address.
  5. After you have settled on all the filters, lets bookmark that choice now... Beside the address bar find the "Bookmark this page" icon (looks like a rectangle with a cut on the bottom edge, in between reload and Home) Press that icon.
  6. Now it is recorded and even though we are not "signed in" to duckduckgo, it will be remembered.
  7. To access that link just press the + button next to the existing tab above the address bar. Note that it has a clickable link to your bookmark.
  8. Optional: You can edit these and rename them... it may now be titled "Server Search - Battlemetrics" but you can choose "Organize Bookmarks" and rename that link "Battlemetrics - CS 1.6 servers" or whatever you like.

Recap what we have so far.

  • We now have access to a safe browser, we didn't need to sign in and have a simple bookmarking system.
  • We didn't have to sign in to a server search site to get further features.
  • We have access to a game server browser for CS 1.6 that is already filtered for bad servers but... we can filter even further.
  • We can consider this our browser that is just for Steam, our game links while using steam... and its anonymous.

Next we will explore how to build your whitelist and explore some more quirks with Steam's web browsing limits.

 

Building your Whitelist from the in-game web browser.

With your DuckDuckGo browser... explore the server list and click on one.

Now it is here we can see lots of info and also you see the Connect button... sorry it will not work, again the limits of browsing within steam hit us again.

But we can also see the IP and port of the server... and that is how we add that server to a list.

  1. Copy the server IP and Port (there is a blue copy button press it)
  2. Close the Steam overlay (the X button top right or Shift +Tab)
  3. Open the "Find Servers" main menu link.
  4. Click on the "Favorites" tab
  5. Click on the "Add a Server" button. Paste in the IP and port number you copied
  6. Press the "Add this address to favorites" button

So based on your searches from a game server list, try the servers, keep them in there or delete them. Build your list.

Sites like Battlemetrics also have a ranking system, the searches always show the top server in their rank.

 

 

 Conclusion

This seems like it is... unnecessary?

But look at your Find servers "Internet" tab right now in game, 9,000 to 12,000 games servers?

90-98% of them are fake at a given time AND 5-10% of those IP's ARE holding files and links that can harm.

You cannot blacklist them, it will take too long, you need to do that in a OS firewall rule and you are wasting your time doing that as the scammers change these everyday and add and remove them constantly.

A Whitelist is the only way.

Valve corporation are so obviously not going to fix this as this issue is rooted in the early days of Steam as far back as 2006, by 2013 the issues were raised in the GitHub issues list where they remain today as "Open", not solved.

Forget blacklisting for this game and also CS2 and others. Whitelist using the above is the most efficient way to deal with this issue. 

 

Now before I leave if you are totally disillusioned by this issue... it may be time to consider offline bots.

The easiest install I can see is SARIBIYIK's Guide in the official Steam forums guide section How to add bots after 25th Anniversary Update [LATEST]

A download is provided, a clear readme, and provides many fixes for Counter-Strike 1.6 and Condition Zero for the current version.

It's a interesting download from 3 sources.

  1. ReGameDLL_CS "Enhanced server-side GameDLL for Counter-Strike 1.6 (and CS: Condition Zero), offering new features and fixes."
  2. HostImprov
  3. zBot

About the only thing I needed to add to that for a decent game of CS 1.6 was two commands, sv_rollangle 0 and sv_rollspeed 0, they changed after the 25th Anniversary update and its the "tilting" effect you may have noticed in the older HL1 mods.

Given you can now make a server through Steam Networking, if your connection is good enough, why not just make your own server to play with the (increasing less) friends that still play the game? 

This is a disgraceful and damaging issue the community shouldn't have to deal with. Valve should have fixed this a long time ago.

The people who are doing this... sick morons who just care about a few dollars over all of us just wanting to play a game with friends.

They are shitting in the bed they sleep in.

Fine, "they" win but for me the ultimate way to play now is... not through the "Internet" tab of the browser... nice one scammers and Valve too, it is now completely broken, unsafe (I mean... bad virus level unsafe), a useless pile of garbage.

Just play with bots or make your own server and ignore the official browsers.

 Hope that helped.