HalcyonSpirit

WM: Good to have you back! Just remember that you can vote on the current submissions as well! Surprisingly, none. Usually we get at least 5 different votes from them by now. As for the topics... well, it is the winter months in the northern hemisphere. People tend to get thoughtful on these subjects during this time of apparent death and melancholy... or at least I do.

One week left to vote! I've gotten one person's vote so far.

So yeah, y'know how I mentioned in my last post that I've been trying to learn Olimar? Well, I've been playing a bit today and I'm finding that I like his playstyle a bit. It's a tad odd (what with the Pikmin and all) and I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can keep track of what Pikmin I have and what order they're in, but I'm liking it so far. Does anyone have some tips on how to use Olimar effectively?

I have quite a few I use fairly regularly. I do focus on some more than others, though, when I'm playing against one of the guys in my dorm. I'll list them in order of current focus on learning: Lucario, Pokémon Trainer, Olimar, Wolf, Wario, R.O.B., Falco, Marth, Link, ZSS, Ike, Pikachu, Ganondorf, Bowser Lucario is the only one I can really consider a "main" at the moment. Possibly Wolf in the near future, but I'm not sure about that. I'm really trying to get PT and Olimar as mains, though; currently working on learning Olimar's moves.

I finally got my own Wii for Christmas, along with Brawl, so I've been practicing. I'd be like "let's play online guys!" right now if it weren't for the fact that I don't have a router to connect to here in my dorm. I tried playing online when I was home, though, and... yeah. It sucks.

AVG Free Edition Comodo Firewall (The download is for the Internet Suite; start the installation process, but make sure you only install the firewall, nothing else (it gives you the option to install different parts).) *GASP!* Educate yourself.

Oh hell no. If you're concerned Norton will eat up too much resources, then go with a lighter antivirus. Here, let me say this: I, too, have only a gig of RAM. I'm running AVG antivirus and Comodo firewall. I have no issues with resources being used up whatsoever. Go with whatever antivirus software you think will suit your needs the best, but for the love of the Internet Gods, don't keep McAfee! McAfee sucks. Now, McVaffe on the other hand, he's awesome.

Norton is a part of Symantec. And yeah, I've had bad experiences in the past with them as well, but they've gotten better in the past two years from what I can tell. The latest of their antivirus software is very powerful, like prophet said. However, do note that you'll pay for that power in both the price of the product and the fact that it's definitely resource-hungry. It's less-so in the latest versions, so if your computer isn't really old it probably won't be too much of an issue. Just know that if you're a real power-user or something, you should be aware that it could impact performance a bit. SoHo is actually a part of AVIRA. It's a decent paid program and one of the better free programs. SoHo is an office edition for AVIRA, so if it's offered through the school it'll probably be tied to them somehow. In either case, if you have to pay more than $20 to use it, it'd be better to just pay the extra money for Norton. If you get it for less or free, you can go for it; it's not the best, but it is good. I've never heard of CA before, but a glance at the internet says "DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!" It looks like you get a lot less bang for your buck with it, so I'd avoid it. I found this article just now that briefly describes some of the most prominent paid antivirus/firewall software. It echos a lot of what I have experienced, including some programs I didn't mention before that are worth a look, including TrendMicro and BitDefender (TrendMicro, actually, is just one step down from Norton, so if Norton left a bad taste in your mouth the last time you used it, TrendMicro is the next best thing). I recommend you look at it if you're going to go with some paid software. If you're only wanting to pay for one program but want before firewall and antivirus, then you have two options. The first is to get a Security Suite from the article I mentioned before and deal with the ups and downs of each. The other option is to buy the antivirus or firewall separately and then supplement it with a free version of the other. For the first option, I'd still go with Norton, and then TrendMicro as a second-best. For the second option, I'd go with paying for Norton's antivirus and getting Comodo's free firewall; Comodo's free firewall is just about as good as the best paid firewall out there (from ZoneAlarm), so you'll be getting a good deal out of it and have the best of both worlds.

Erm, I wouldn't count out the spyware just yet. Some can hide themselves quite well from scanners. You need to be careful. I assume you got things sorted out with the bank? Keep an eye on all your accounts if you didn't switch accounts completely. As for antivirus software, I'm going to assume that you'll want a decent firewall as well. As far as free software goes, the free version of AVG tends to be the best all-around antivirus software. There's a few other good ones as well that have their ups and downs, like AVAST and (I think) NOD32. For a free firewall, the best by far is Comodo's firewall included with their Internet Security Suite. It includes an antivirus, but it, quite frankly, sucks, so don't install that or the Defense+ with the firewall. Paid antivirus/firewall software tends to be a whole lot better than free versions, but whether the cost is worth it to you is your decision. Anyway, Norton's antivirus software is one of the best. Its firewall is good but not great. For a great paid firewall, you'll need to go with ZoneAlarm's paid firewall software. It can come with antivirus, but it's only good, not great (also, the free version of ZoneAlarm's firewall isn't good at all compared to others, so don't bother with it). So, if that's tl;dr for you, here's the rundown of the best combos (in my opinion and experience): Free Software: AVG for antivirus and Comodo for firewall. Paid Software: Norton for antivirus and ZoneAlarm for firewall.

First order of business: We weren't using it until I came along. I'm an engineer, what can you expect? A shame you weren't able to finish your poem, though. Maybe next time, eh? You can still post it in the general Writing Thread in OffTop; if nothing else, I still want to read it! ----- Second order of business: I've largely been cut off from the Internet for the past 9 hours, so I couldn't post my "finished" work until right this moment... I wrote this piece in one sitting, all today, and it probably isn't good at all. I didn't really even edit it and I did really rush it. In any case, here's my entry into the competition (it's a miracle I got anything done at all!): Waiting by HalcyonSpirit ----- Third order of business: The submission stage is now officially over! (Well, it was over 7.5 hours ago, but like I said above, I got cut off from the Internet for a bit...) In any case, we've got 8 entries for this round! Wonderful! The Solo by Rophell Iron Desire by AJiLe The Stone by Stove_Top Twins by Jam Stunna Heaven in a Box by Random Hajile Girl Stuff by M W To Be Human by just64helpin Waiting by HalcyonSpirit You have two (2) weeks to vote! Remember to review the voting rules if this is your first time voting, and good luck to everyone!

3846? As in, 3846 words? Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the current rules state that the maximum word count for an entry in Freeform is 3000 words flat. Incidentally, there's only three days left for submission! I know I should've made an announcement at least a week in advance of the deadline, but I've been sorting through some personal issues and forgot. Speaking of which, said problems have been interfering with my ability to write, so I may not have anything ready for this round, unfortunately. (And if I do submit something, don't expect quality writing...)

Indeed. "Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope. Statement: This definition, I am told, is subject to interpretation. Obviously, love is a matter of odds. Not many meatbags could make such a shot, and fewer would derive love from it. Yet for me, love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticle, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds." Oddly fitting, in a strange sort of way.

That was probably somewhere along the Turnpike. It can get pretty bad in places around that highway...

As a fellow New Jersey-raised person that has also lived in Virginia for three years now, I can safely say that the primary driving difference between New Jersey drivers and Virginia drivers is that New Jersey drivers tend to have 0.001% of the patience. Actual driving ability, however, remains about equal between the two locations (re: quasi-nonexistent). Don't know how other states compare, though.

Indeed. Now I have to finish my entry...

I interpreted it as a response to Stove_Top, actually, since he maybe was thinking that all categories were running at once. That is who you were responding to, right SoulinEther? As for Rophell... I'll ask one of the moderators about it in the morning. If he's gone for a time past the end of the competition, well... we'll deal with it as it happens.

Quit stealing my thunder! I just saw the thread and was like "I'm gonna re-post the AnSo animation I made!" and then I waltz in to find you had already posted it! *shakes fist* I might just have to do a sequel animation to make up for this outrage... Nah, probably not. Too tired. Happy Birthday, AnSo!

I take it this is a good game? I guess I better free up some space on my hard drive.

Basically, submissions are always open for at least the entirety of the first month of each round. Good to see another new face around here.

I'm betting this one you're talking about is a WIP that never made it onto the site itself. Upload the file somewhere and post a link if you want; I'm sure someone can identify it.

I'm pretty sure I can guess the answer to the question, but I figured I may as well ask, since it's been years since I've been up-to-date on computer hardware news. Basically I have an old desktop computer sitting at home collecting dust and I want to know if it's worth it to upgrade some of the components, or whether just buying a new computer would be more cost-effective. As far as how much of an upgrade I'm looking for, I need it to be at least as powerful as my current laptop (which is also showing its age), otherwise it'd just be a waste of time. I'm not looking for a high-end computer (I KNOW that's out of the question), but being able to split my workload between the computers might prolong the life of my laptop. Not to mention that if my laptop does die in the relatively near future, it'd be good to still have a computer to do my engineering work on. Here's the basic specs of the two computers: Desktop: ASUS P4S8X-MX Motherboard (specs here) Pentium 4 2.40GHz 512MB DDR SDRAM NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420 Laptop: Inspiron 9300, Y4694 Motherboard Pentium M 2.00GHz 1GB RAM (unknown type) NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Remember, the desktop would need to be at least as powerful as the laptop, preferably more, but I know that's unlikely. If getting a new desktop would be better, what's possible when on a fairly tight budget (I don't have a set limit right now) if I build it myself (I'm looking at YOU, prophet of mephisto!)? I wouldn't need anything besides the computer itself, just to be clear on that.

Actually, I was planning on taking that class. Unfortunately, she being Nikki Giovanni, the class filled up really quickly. Not even my Senior status ensured a seat for me. I didn't get in. Oh well...

The download link Bahamut posted says it's something like 2.23GB, but the download keeps cutting out at 163MB. Is it just me that's having this problem?

I think I remember one of the biggest complaints people have had in the past is that, when put into iTunes, all the songs come up as separate albums based on the artist, despite all the songs being part of the same album. It results in a plethora of "http://www.ocremix.org" albums showing up. So I suggest that this problem be fixed.

That's... sorta disturbing... I like it! But did you need to use the font that you did? Was that intentional? It might just be me, but the larger the type gets, the harder it is for me to read it. In other news, I was actually contemplating putting together some sigs for the competition, so this is a good start.