Website review
This review may include AI-generated content and is not individually verified. Domain, certificate and other facts come from the observed data on this page.
What is the rTS Wiki?
The rTS Wiki is the official documentation site for the r/Techsupport community, described on its homepage as "built by the community for the community." In practice, it's a volunteer-written reference for common technical support tasks, aimed at people who want step-by-step guidance rather than a discussion thread.
What it covers
The homepage highlights a handful of core topics:
- How to clean install Windows
- What to do if you believe you're infected, with malware-handling recommendations
- Improving cyber hygiene with multi-factor authentication
- Setting up a personal backup plan
These are recurring, high-stakes questions in tech support, so the wiki works as a first stop before posting a help request. If you're fixing a relative's slow PC or setting up backups for your own machine, the clean-install and backup pages are the most directly useful starting points.
Who writes it
The content comes from named community contributors rather than a single editorial team, and the site is published via GitHub Pages with a public repository and a contributing guide. That means the wiki is only as current and accurate as its volunteers' work; treat individual pages as community advice and cross-check anything that could affect your data, such as disk formatting or malware removal steps.
How to use it
Start with the highlighted page closest to your problem, follow it end to end before improvising, and if a page looks outdated or incomplete, the contributing guide shows how to propose a fix. For broader context, the parent community at Reddit hosts the r/Techsupport forum where these articles are typically discussed.
How do I clean install Windows using the rTS Wiki guide?
Start with the wiki's "How to clean install Windows" entry, linked from the Highlighted Content section on the rTS Wiki home page. It is written for people who want a full reset—reinstalling the OS rather than repairing the existing copy—and it suits anyone whose system is unstable, badly cluttered, or being handed on to someone else.
What the guide is for
A clean install wipes the system drive and puts a fresh Windows on it. That is the right move when:
- Windows is corrupt or won't boot reliably and repairs have failed.
- You're selling or passing on the machine and want your data gone.
- You're moving to a new drive and want a fresh start.
It is the wrong move if you just need one app fixed, or if you can't back up first—the system partition's contents are lost.
Practical sequence
- Back up everything you care about to a separate drive or cloud account. Check the backup opens before you start.
- Note your product key or confirm the licence is tied to the hardware/Microsoft account.
- Collect drivers for network and storage from the PC maker's support page, since Windows Setup may not include them.
- Create installation media with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool and boot from it.
- Choose Custom install, delete the old system partitions, and let Setup create fresh ones.
- After first boot, install chipset and network drivers, then run Windows Update.
The wiki's other highlighted pages pair well with this: its malware guidance matters if an infection is why you're reinstalling, and its backup-plan page is worth reading before you wipe anything.
Decision criterion
If you can answer "yes" to a tested backup and "yes" to having installation media and drivers ready, proceed. If either is missing, fix that first—those two gaps cause most failed clean installs. For the exact click-by-click steps, follow the wiki page itself rather than a summary, and use its Contributing Guide if you spot something out of date.
What should I do if I think my computer is infected with malware?
Start with containment and evidence-gathering, not with a download. The rTS Wiki lists "Believe you are infected? View our recommendations for dealing with malware" among its highlighted content, so its malware guidance is the natural first stop before you install anything. You can reach it at rTS Wiki.
A practical first hour
- Disconnect from the network. Pull the Ethernet cable or turn off Wi-Fi. This limits data theft and stops the machine from spreading anything to shared drives or other devices on your home network.
- Don't log in to email, banking or password managers from that machine. If you already did, change those passwords from a different, clean device — phone or another computer.
- Note the symptoms with timestamps. Unexpected pop-ups, a browser homepage that changed, fans running hard at idle, files renamed to odd extensions, a new admin account you didn't create, or a sudden request to pay a "support" number. These details decide whether you're dealing with adware, a ransomware event or a remote-access scam.
- Look for the common entry point. A recently installed free program, a cracked tool, a browser extension, a phishing attachment, or a phone call where you let someone remote in. Windows' installed-apps list sorted by date, plus your browser's extension page, will usually show it.
- Preserve anything you may need. Copy personal files to an external drive only if you accept the risk of carrying an infection across; otherwise leave them and plan to scan them later from a clean machine.
Decide: clean up or rebuild
| Situation | Sensible approach | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Adware, unwanted toolbar, one suspicious extension | Remove the program/extension, run a reputable scanner, reset browser settings | Fast, but you must verify nothing remains |
| Remote-access scam where someone had control | Disconnect, change passwords from another device, consider a full reinstall | Reinstall costs time; trusting the old install costs more |
| Ransomware, or files encrypted | Don't pay; isolate the drive, check your backups, report it | Recovery depends entirely on backups existing |
| You can't identify what's running | Back up data, clean install the OS | Most reliable, but requires reinstalling apps |
The wiki's "How to clean install Windows" page is the reference for that last row, and its "Setup a personal backup plan" page is worth reading before you need it. Both are listed on the rTS Wiki home page alongside the malware recommendations.
After you're clean
Turn on multi-factor authentication for your main accounts — the wiki covers this under cyber hygiene — and keep one offline or cloud backup that isn't permanently connected to your PC, since ransomware encrypts whatever it can reach. If you're unsure whether a symptom is real, the community at r/techsupport is where the wiki's contributors work; post the symptoms and what you've already checked.
How can I set up a personal backup plan with the wiki's help?
Start with the wiki's own "Setup a personal backup plan" page, then use the rest of the wiki to fill in the gaps around it. The rTS Wiki is the community-written documentation site for r/Techsupport, and its highlighted content groups backup guidance alongside clean Windows installs, malware response and MFA advice — so it works best as a checklist hub rather than a single tutorial.
A practical sequence
- Read the backup page first. Treat it as your outline: what to back up, how often, and where copies should live. Note which items apply to you and which don't.
- Decide what counts as irreplaceable. Photos, documents, password manager exports, tax records and project files usually matter more than reinstalled programs or the operating system itself.
- Apply the 3-2-1 idea as a rule of thumb (advice, not a wiki claim): at least three copies, on two different types of media, with one kept off-site or offline. A local external drive plus a cloud copy covers most home users.
- Test a restore before you trust the plan. Recover one folder to a spare location and open a few files. A backup you have never restored is a guess.
- Schedule it and forget it. Automatic daily or weekly runs beat manual copying, which tends to lapse after the first month.
Where the wiki helps beyond the backup page
- Before a clean install: the "How to clean install Windows" page matters because a reinstall is the moment people discover their backup was incomplete. Back up first, then reinstall.
- If you suspect malware: the wiki's malware recommendations are relevant because an infected machine can corrupt backups. Clean the system, then start fresh backups rather than overwriting good copies.
- Account security: the MFA guidance protects the cloud account holding your backups; a hijacked account can lose or expose them.
- Cyber hygiene generally: the wiki frames backups as one habit among several, which is the right mental model.
Choosing your setup
| Situation | Sensible starting point | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| One laptop, mostly documents and photos | External drive plus a cloud service | Cloud subscription cost; upload time on slow connections |
| Large media libraries or project files | Local drive plus a second drive stored elsewhere | Manual rotation; you must remember to swap drives |
| Frequent travellers | Cloud-first with a small local copy | Depends on reliable internet; restore can be slow |
| Privacy-sensitive files | Encrypted local copies, offline storage | More setup effort; encryption keys must be kept safe |
For a second opinion on specific tools and step-by-step methods, community forums such as Reddit and vendor-neutral guides from the FTC can supplement the wiki's community-written pages. Where the wiki's advice is thin or outdated, verify current steps against the software vendor's own documentation.
How do I contribute to the rTS Wiki on GitHub?
The rTS Wiki is the community-built documentation site for r/Techsupport, and it is published through GitHub Pages. Its own "How can I contribute?" section points contributors to the project's repository and a Contributing Guide, so the intended route is to work through GitHub rather than editing the live site directly. The wiki is explicitly written by community contributors, so changes are reviewed as part of a shared project rather than published instantly.
A practical contribution path
- Open the rTS Wiki at rTS Wiki and read the Contributing Guide linked from its "How can I contribute?" section. That guide is the authoritative source for formatting, scope and submission rules.
- Find the repository link on the same page, then fork it to your own GitHub account.
- Make your edit in your fork — for example, correcting a step in the "How to clean install Windows" page or tightening the malware-recommendations article.
- Open a pull request describing what changed and why. Keep each pull request focused on one article or one fix so reviewers can assess it quickly.
- Respond to review comments; a maintainer merges the change, and GitHub Pages republishes the site.
What to contribute, and what to expect
The highlighted content — clean Windows installs, dealing with suspected malware, multi-factor authentication, and personal backup plans — shows the kind of practical, step-by-step material the wiki values. A useful contribution is usually a concrete correction or clarification drawn from real troubleshooting experience, not a general essay.
Expect a slower loop than editing a personal blog: you are proposing a change, and someone else decides whether to merge it. That trade-off is what keeps advice consistent across a volunteer-written site. If you are new to pull requests, start with a small fix such as a broken link or an outdated step, and read GitHub's own documentation at GitHub Docs for the mechanics of forking and opening a pull request.
What cyber hygiene steps like MFA does the wiki recommend?
The rTS Wiki lists "Improve your cyber hygiene with MFA" as one of its highlighted topics, but the page itself only names MFA as a recommended step — it does not spell out which accounts to protect or which MFA methods it favors. For those details you need the linked article on rTS Wiki, not the welcome page.
What the wiki signals, and what it leaves open
The highlighted content on rTS Wiki groups cyber hygiene alongside cleaning-installing Windows, dealing with suspected malware, and setting up a personal backup plan. That framing is useful: it treats MFA as one layer in a broader routine rather than a standalone fix. The page also names its contributors openly, which matters if you want to judge how much weight to give any single recommendation before following it.
A practical reading for a typical reader
Imagine you help family members with their accounts. A sensible order is: turn on MFA for email and banking first, since those unlock password resets elsewhere; prefer an authenticator app or hardware key over SMS where offered; then add the wiki's backup plan so a locked account doesn't cost you data. Treat these as general advice, not as steps the wiki states on that page.
How to decide
Use the wiki's own structure as your checklist. Open the MFA article for the specific methods it endorses, and cross-check the malware and backup pages, because MFA won't help if a device is already compromised. If a recommendation conflicts with what your bank or employer requires, follow the stricter rule.
User reviews (0)