For the safety of our members, we must require that all technical support take place in the forums. This offers the opportunity for peer-review with the hope that bad advice can be corrected. Having problems and solutions publicly visible may also help someone in the future who is experiencing the same issue. As a result, we do not allow assistance to be given via email or Private Message. Due to the risks involved, we also do not allow live remote control of computers by our volunteers. If you're looking for live support, there are other (paid) sites that provide that service.

If a rule is broken, a Moderator may add an Infraction against that user's account. Each infraction will add points to the offending user's account. The number of points per offense will vary depending on its severity, previous warnings, and the user's intent. Most points will expire automatically after 6 months. More serious offenses may include points that last longer. The most serious offenses (like hacking or giving intentionally harmful advice) carry enough points to cause an immediate permanent ban.

• P2P Instructions - We do not support P2P file sharing applications and any threads requesting help for such will be closed. This includes Torrents, Kazaa, LimeWire, RapidShare, Pirate Bay, and the like. If you're interested in the topic, you are free to discuss it on our site (and please visit StealingIsIllegal.com), but information on how to use them will not be provided.
• Circumventing Copy Protection - While we believe it's reasonable to make backup copies of CDs and DVDs that you own, a lot of people break copy protection for the wrong reasons. The law is still vague, at best, as to if it is legal to break copy protection in order to make such a backup, even for personal use. (The DMCA, for example, seems to make it illegal.) As a result, we do not allow discussion of how to break copy protection at this time. If we can find a nice way to draw the line, we may reconsider this in the future as laws get sorted out.
• WiFi "Piggybacking" / "Wardriving" - We do not support the act of using someone else's Internet without permission. Also, please note that almost every ISP prohibits sharing your Internet connection with another home, and we will not assist you in breaking their rules.
• Passwords - Please do not ask for assistance with forgotten passwords and/or bypassing them. As there is no way to verify the actual situation and/or intentions, no assistance will be provided and any such threads will be closed.
• Multiple Postings - It is simply not acceptable to post your question more than once, or to post it in more than one forum. Choose the forum that your question or post best fits in, and place it there and only there. If, after posting, you feel it should be in another forum, use the "Report Thread" button at the bottom of the post and we'll move it. We also reserve the right to move posts to other forums and delete duplicates.
• Misuse of vB Code - Over-use or misuse of vB Codes may be held as an offense at moderators' discretion. This would include particularly annoying, large, flashing, or otherwise unnecessary over-use of such special features.
• Forum Flooding - (Applies only to Community Forums, not to technical forums.) While we do not want to discourage members from participating in discussions, to be fair to all members we must limit the number of new threads and posts created by the same member to prevent "forum flooding." As a rule of thumb, you should strive to limit starting new threads on average to no more than 3 or 4 new threads per week. You should also try to avoid replying excessively to the same thread when no other member is participating in the discussion. We will enforce the "spirit" rather than the "letter" of the rule. As an example, you may want to post 6 good threads in a week and only one or two the next week. Please be considerate of other members when deciding to start a new thread. Do a search of threads that already exist—chances are you will find one that covers your "new" topic.
• Log Analysis/Malware Removal - In order to ensure that advice given to users is consistent and of the highest quality, those who wish to assist with security related matters must first graduate from one of the malware boot camp training universities or be approved by the administration as already being qualified. Those authorized to help with malware issues have a gold shield next to their name and authorized malware removal trainees have a blue shield next to their names. If you'd like to participate in a training program, please contact a Moderator or see this article.
  
  Trusted Advisors are specially selected individuals who have proven that they are technically knowledgeable, dedicated and highly respected members of our community. In appreciation of their work and to support their efforts, they will have extended permissions when it comes to using tools such as HijackThis, etc. We understand that they are quite capable of handling minor issues that may appear in a HijackThis log and can easily diagnose more serious situations that need to be turned over to a qualified malware removal helper and will act accordingly. Trusted Advisors have a green shield next to their names.

• Spamming/Advertising - You cannot post advertisements of any sort in any forum. This includes products, services, or web sites from which you'd directly or indirectly benefit in any way.
  • EXCEPTIONS (at the discretion of the moderators)
    1. Unaffiliated Announcements - If you see a great deal somewhere, you're welcome to share it with everyone by posting it in the "General Opinions and Reviews" forum if and only if you are completely unaffiliated with that deal.
    2. Signatures - When posting a useful response, you may include your own web page (or that of your company) in the signature of your message. However, this does not precede other rules. (That is to say that you can't misuse vB Code in your link, provide links to naughty web sites, etc.)
  • Offensive Reference/Text/Images in Signature – Information provided in your Signature should not be offensive or derogatory in general or to any member specifically, such as attributing a quote to a member. If you are going to refer to or quote a member specifically, you should obtain the member's permission before so doing.

• Crude or Rude Intent - Tech Support Guy was designed to be a community of people who can help one-another, and should be completely free of any profanity and vulgar language. There is absolutely no excuse for being rude to a user. Uncivilized and offensive language (especially cursing of any sort), images, or anything else, used anywhere on the board (including your user name) is completely unacceptable.
• Irrelevant and/or Inflammatory Postings - While we certainly don't discourage productive and useful debate relating to the particular topic at issue, posts that are made for the purpose of arguing or debating, in a nonproductive or inflammatory manner, an irrelevant or ancillary issue with either the topic starter or another poster are not permitted.
• Intentionally Harmful Advice - In the same way, this is a place to help people, not harm them. This offense applies when administration suspects that a user has intentionally posted harmful advice. For example, don't tell a user to type "FORMAT C:" in order to send an email.
• Impersonation - This applies when administration suspects a user of misrepresenting their identity, whether to the web site in general, or to another user.
• Multiple Accounts - Likewise, users are not permitted to maintain multiple accounts, as it may mislead or cause confusion to other users. Some exceptions may be made.

• Hacking/Interference - This is the deliberate use of any device, software, routine, or activity to achieve or attempt to achieve any interference with the proper operation of the site, as determined by the administration.
• Threats/Harassment - This would be threats of bodily harm or other harassment from a user, whether by email, private message, or on the forum, as determined by the administration.
• Other Illegal Activities - As you might expect, we don't want anything illegal going on here. Users cannot post hacks, cracks, pirated software, or anything of the like. Furthermore, we do not allow instructions on how to complete illegal activities, such as pirating. Please don't ask for advice on using illegal software, as it will be removed.