Preventing Your Laptop From Being Stolen

If you can't beat them...

No you do NOT join them, --- good gods man!! --- you provide them resources to protect those insidious, unwieldy gizmos that will soon enough irradiate their testicles and make them produce offspring who will make neighbors think Kerrigan is their mother. Daemonprinces and Bloodthirsters from the Warp take my soul the moment I buy a laptop.

Unable to prevent the wave of traitors to gamerkind from buying laptops, I --- sigh --- resign myself to at least give them useful articles.

Here's one from PC World about how to prevent laptop theft.

And no Soren, unless you buy another one, you won't be able to play Fallout 3 bless your thermacrete-coated skull.

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Archmage Forum Posts

Tales from an age long gone.....


What follow are posts I made when I was one of the leaders of the Praetorian Crusaders, a role-playing Reincarnation guild. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did playing the game that inspired me to write these mini-stories.

(Notes: 1. These are impromptu ones; I made them right before or after playing sessions in public cafes so they are not as polished as one might think they are. 2. One word here is an intellectual property of mine and I have replaced it with "lieutenant." 3. Except for Solanthar and Sylvrdark, all other names are not my creations but the names of guilds/characters of fellow Reincarnation players; some are downright weird :D . 4. The opinions of my character are not my personal opinion but are spoken in true role-playing fashion. I hope no members of the IA or Ronin guilds will take offense. 5. These were made as separate forum posts so they will have gaps among them. They follow a single guild war however.)

I think these posts were about a guild war we had with the IA guild.

THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS PART OF THE STORY IN WHICH SOLANTHAR AND THE LATEST REINCARNATION OF THE lieutenant QUEL'THALAZ (an undying Nether Archmage) AFFLICTS A VERDANT MAGE WITH OFFENSIVE SPELLS. LARDUMIR, WHITEWING AND RHILANTHOS WERE INVOLVED TOO AND HAD LARGE PARTS BRINGING ABOUT THIS BUT THAT IS FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER........


Two figures scan the forests of an IA verdant mage. Where once stood verdant fields and towering trees, the landscape now has fused in a macabre way in shades of dead brown and festering purple. Its people ---- tiny specks seen from a distance ----- seem to be wandering around in a stupor as their forests and homeland slowly melt in a puddle of blight.

The mage named Sylvrdark turns to his companion, a Praetorian lieutenant. "It's done Slave of the Light." His companion merely nods, coldly satisfied at the spreading rot, taciturn as always. Then his robe-covered emaciated body stiffens and points to the horizon miles from the dying forests. Sylvrdark turns slightly and his eyes glow with holy light. He nods, expecting this.

"The Ronins come," he says "and while they are dishonorable, being the maw that grinds all those that fall from favor, they nevertheless have my respect as worthy opponents and formidable warriors. This is a siege we would do well to stay away from and do not need." With that the lieutenant makes a gesture and the Praetorians disappear.

The forests of the IceAge Verdant mage, now bracing the coming might of the Ronins, continue to melt, wilt, fester and die.


-----------------------0000---------------------------------------

On another hilltop the mage named Sylvrdark materializes, this time with an ilithid. It is a different hilltop, miles away from the forests of McGravy, where he was sorely disappointed in the IA's successful dispelling of the lieutenant's spell, but the scenery was the same ----- a dying, writhing landscape.

"We'll make ssssssure it ssssticksss thisss time Ilitha'knosssss." The mind ripper and the Archmage keep a vigilant watch as the carefully placed sleepers inside the enemy realm do their work --- inside an invisible gigantic sphere of malignant magick that is marked only by the putrefying flora and fauna in its influence.

The towers of knowledge and vaults of arcana start to crumble.

Yes, Sylverdark thinks, I hope it sticks this time.


---------------------000000------------------------------------------


"Ilitha'knossss!!" the ilithid fairly screamed, "look!" All thoughout the land they stood guard over, the fauna starts to grow and prosper in a resurgence that approached chaos. As if on cue, peasants start to appear in large numbers though still sparse in relation to the realm they are desperately trying to revive.

The White-robed mage starts to cast a spell again. Sylvrdark once again feels the foul essence of the black wisps of growing energy he is conjuring forth when suddenly on the field below him and the mind ripper, a familiar figure appears. It quickly utters words of power. They could see the realm's nodes start to glow with pure white mana when a pall suddenly hits the surrounding area. The Praetorian lieutenant had recasted quicker.

For a fraction of a second, all is still as with an imperceptible silence the raging malevolence of a Death and Decay swirls into the hapless kingdom. Then the silence is destroyed with a loud boom as thirteen forts collapse; the nodes have continued to charge, innocently bringing about their owner's near demise.

The last of the settlers weren't so lucky. The nodes stop pulsating, but the damage is done.

"It'll stick now," Sylvrdark turns to his assistant, "though not in the fashion we had mistakenly foreseen." The mind ripper laughs, a sibilant laughter that echoes unheard in the desolation below.

-----------------------------0000-------------------------------------------

Sylvrdark watches with grim satisfaction as 5 more forts crumble. In the valley near the borders of the stricken IA realm, the Praetorian lieutenant still maintained his spell that prevented the IA mage from breaking free of the deadly grasp of Death and Decay.

Only a single fort now remained.

"Come Bi'Marrzul", he says, beckoning the mind ripper, "he is inconsequential now. We have sieges to make on other IA magi more worthy of the might of our armies."

The Praetorian lieutenant remained, maintaining his hold on spells that slew all within the confines of their thrall.

One fort.

(Note: Hmmm, I don't know what was on my mind when I wrote this. Why'd the mind flayer stay? Lost, lost to the oceans of my turbulent memory the reason remains.)

(Note 2: Ah, I got it figured out now, there are three persons in the above narrative, Sylverdark --- who is also known as Solanthar ---, Bi'marrzul the Ilithid/Mind Flayer, and Fallenn, the Praetorian Lieutenant who is also known as Quel'thalaz.)

-------------------------0000---------------------------------------------

"As Dron, Quest and Suncrusher have betrayed us millennia ago, so now do their fold betray them." From the topmost observation chamber of Flarefortress, Sylvrdark watches the last of the rearguard of the armies of Yohan desert the realms of Suncrusher. "I may have abandoned the Ascendant Order because of this plane's imbalance of power but we see the Hand of indifferent Sun time and again eh Rhilanthos?" He turns to the Verdancy adept who was busy guzzling his flagon of lambanog. The two took in with satisfaction the ignominious disarray of the Ice Age's beleaguered lower magi.

"We share a rich history, Quest, Suncrusher, Dron, Uthiel and I." Sylvrdark pauses, reminiscing ages long gone. Then he smiles and says, "Why, you can almost write a play with it!"

--------------------------0000---------------------------------------------------

A tugging in the fabric of the magical field prevalent in the plane cut short the mage's reverie. Even leagues away, they felt the last of Murmur's forts succumb to an offensive spell. Before Rhilanthos could react, a freezing cold that always accompanied the coming of the immortal known in this age as Fallenn billows across the chamber.

"He moved," the immortal lieutenant says simply, his first words ever spoken in this war.

------------------------0000--------------------------------------------------

EPILOGUE:

Solanthar squats on the top of a hill, the Standard of Praetorius driven into the ground beside him. Fallenn had given it to the Ilitha'knos in the last hours of the war. Asked why, the lieutenant had simply shed off his battle armor and donned on the rotting black robes that had swathed him when he first came to Praetoria III and swore fealty to the Light. The crimson and black of Mage-monarch Uthiel swirls in the breeze. Solanthar looks at it with reverence and a tinge of nostalgia.

He stands up, unclenching his right fist, servos whining as the Gauntlet of Titan Strength unfolds. Its mana powerstones glint in the sun as the Hammer of Praetoria reaches out and pulls the Standard out of the ground effortlessly. Solanthar hefts it. "Years ago, I was given this gauntlet as a means to handle your great weight and use you not in just leading but in battle as well."

He gently murmurs words of activation only he knew and with a sound akin to that of a drawn sword, the Standard tranforms itself into a giangtic battle axe thrice the height of a man.

"Only I know your secrets Shadowsmite," Solanthar says grimly, "and now we are complete as Fallen is, having returned to his Nether ways." He scans the horizon, his eyes glowing again with holy light.

"Now we wait for our Mage-monarch's command." Behind and above him, thousands of angels in crystalline armor hover, giga-blades unsheathed.

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Far Cry 2

Of free roaming AI, real weather effects, and a seamless game world..

Updated: See the update at the end of this article.

And so at last, we get to see the sequel of that amazing game that took gamers’ worlds by storm three years ago. And after all this time, what with Oblivion, Half-life 2 and all the stunning games that have long since been disgorged out of the gates of their developers, the series still lives up to its name.

These from Brad Shoemaker of GameSpot:

"The game simulates full weather patterns and air currents, so when you see clouds in the sky, they aren’t there because an artist painted them on the skybox–they’re there because the atmospheric conditions were right for clouds to form."

"…we saw a grassy field catch fire from an exploded fuel canister, and the fire actually began to spread in a particular direction simply because the wind was blowing it that way."

"…you’ll be able to roam around that entire world while it streams from the hard drive, without ever seeing a loading screen."

"One was eating a meal in a hut, two were patrolling around the premises, and so on…. none of these actions are in any way prescripted."

"…this behavior wasn’t at all scripted; instead, the AI had identified the truck as the best means of pursuing and attacking the player, and their route wasn’t at all set, either. The truck attempted to ram the player’s jeep a couple of times and took some shots at it…"

If this game plays like what they described it to be in its commercial release, what happened 4 years ago will repeat itself - all the other competition:

Layo’ ra.

See the preview here.

Update: Gamespot has released another preview of the sequel. View it here.

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Warsow v0.4 Now Out!!

XIII it's not.


Developers of the multiplayer-focused, cel-shaded first-person shooter has announced their release of version 0.4 of their popular FREEware project.

Links:

Download page

New model

Screenshots

What is Warsow? Read: Warsow Wikipedia entry

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High-end Gaming Mice (as of Jan 20)

Allaying the wrath of shift leads


Lol! I still could remember the faces of my officemates when I told them I bought a 1,700 Php gaming mouse. They nearly choked on what they were eating. One was ready to fly into a fit, which oddly reminded me of my father whenever he learns of purchases I make related to gaming.

The truth of the matter was --- considering that it's a 2,000 DPI gaming mouse --- the price was dirt-cheap; I couldn't resist it.

Gamespot has released an article entitled "2008 Gaming Mouse Roundup," which features four high-end gaming mice that are being produced by Logitech, Razer, Microsoft, and SteelSeries.

These are the real McCoys, the heavy-hitters, the juggernauts. Not some dirt-cheap gaming mouse bought in a store where nobody knows that current Nvidia videocards have reached the 8800-mark.

While close friends --- and I myself --- won't probably be buying high-end gaming mice, the article still is a good read as it provides information about basic gaming mice jargon. Learn about the importance of DPS --- whose definition varies depending on whether one refers to mice or printers.

I hope you'll learn something new with this one and launch you into the path of quality gaming. Game on!

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War Rock Weapon: Double Scorpions

Engineer-biased series of releases :p

The last time I posted news about new weapons, it was about the anti-personnel mine for the engineer class. War Rock Philippines has just released the Dual Scorpion, an SMG for that same class.

They may look wimpy with their uninspired wooden handles but judging from their damage rating, these babies collectively pack more punch than the M4A1.

Medics can use these too. With this addition the value of the engineer in the battlefield just rose up astronomically; I definitely will try a mine-laying, DScorp-wielding engineer as soon as work is done this month. Let's see if the damage is that good. (And the accuracy and recoil that bad lol!)

Here is a Wikipedia entry about the Škorpion vz. 61.


Update: I finally got around to renting the things and I must say, I have mixed feelings about the DoubleScorps.

If the guns were horses, War Rock would be a confused mess of a rodeo. With a recoil rating of 84, this is one of the weapons that will have you struggling for control the first time you use them. I did manage to kill several soldiers using the commonly-used burst scheme, but you really are at a disadvantage when you engage an enemy that's more than fifteen or so meters from you. If the guy decides to fall prone, you are virtually dead meat; while you are firing in intervals at a small target, he will be unleashing a continuous hail of lead if he happens to be using a low-recoil weapon. It's a no-contest.

The weapon will force you to employ tactics and to choose firefights. It's very, very good in close-quarter combat. Tight corners, small rooms --- these scenarios are where the DoubleScorps reign --- and they do it like tyrants because recoil aside, these little monsters gobble up bullets. Everytime you push the trigger, you hear this wonderful, wonderful sound of --- I don't know, it's like two half-meter long toilet paper sheets that are made of metal being suddenly torn apart; you can't make out the sound of their hammers striking the bullets, it's just one fluid, "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" sound that induces nirvana in hardcore shooter fans.

850 rounds per minute: unadulterated bliss. Watch those casings fly out of their chambers!

There's another problem though. Why did I say "half-meter long"? Imagine yourself tearing a half-meter long paper into two pieces --- that's the time it takes for the double scorpions to empty their magazines.

And then you have to reload.

You have to reload two guns and pray hard that no one pops up during that interim. This makes the weapon inefficient for FFA matches or CQB ones that have a large amount of players on each side as you will quickly run out of bullets. This can be fixed by using an ammo box though but I'm fascinated more by the M14 anti-personnel mine.

To summarize, these weapons are very good in confined spaces but are not suited for open areas. These submachine guns shine in Close-Quarter Battle maps, use them there and watch your score jump. You have to learn to control them though as they are very inaccurate, relying instead on their sheer firepower to lay waste to enemy troops. In large maps, choose your battles carefully and stay away from open areas as you'll be at a sore disadvantage in medium- to long-range firefights. Here, you're better off with the default MP5; true, you can practice and get better over time, but at a steep price --- for players who favor Urban Ops or Battle Group maps --- it's just not worth renting.

Yep, accuracy will win the day in large maps with lots of open areas.

Credits: Thanks to my wife for juggling the duties of a cook and a professional screenshooter while her Ethan MacManus-ish husband fragged away at lunchtime. :D Thanks also to Xtaskillz, Manonggard, FrOst_EntAngLE, Rrrm99, NAcky323, Ferrouslupusrex, KiDrOcK17, Ambhoy, Insen123, and InsanelyTriggerHappy for providing comments and observations before I rented the weapons.

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YM Flavor Text

"Whoever said that artificers do not get bored with all their tinkering around for new war machine ideas?" --- Guardsman Vu-an Tahrmad of the Outer Gates of the city of Waladire


All those years of playing Magic: The Gathering have caught up to me. Now I'm writing flavor text for my YM avatars. Weird eh? Here are some that I made:

For my Desert Dreadnought painting:

"The mana-powered behemoth broke through the canyon wall, holding white death in its corroded frame. It gave a bellow, and a white bar of cleansing fire lanced from the rust-encrusted aperture that was its maw. The undead legion scattered..."

For the Clockwork Dragon painting that I and one of my friends made:

"It wheeled around and swept down, its solar cells glinting in the midday heat. Tubes made of hekalite flexed and contracted, and talons the size of longswords splayed out. The construct went in for the kill..."

And of course the one I made for my rough UFO: AI PHALANX soldier text:

"Rifleman Wilkes fired shot after shot of uranium-depleted rounds as the South African village started to disintegrate under a sizzling hail of energy bolts from the UFO. Things were starting to pour out of the ship, carrying particle-based weaponry. F###, Wilkes thought, the UN wasn't prepared for this! F###, no one is! A hut exploded on his right, as blue death once again spat from the hulk's laser batteries..."

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Doodle in the Morning

Haywired


This day was terrible. I was only able to sleep after breakfast --- at nearly 8am in the morning. Have to lay off the coffee.

Here's an insomnia-induced sketch:

To make up for my two-day absence this is going to be me in the next four days.

I always abhorred thick lines --- and lately, the color black --- but my eyes were already protesting.

Next one won't be a doodle anymore as I'm finishing the lineart of "XVI Census."

After more than a year of shunning pencil, ink, and paper, I hope I've still got the artist in me.

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+25% Attack Speed, Transmute

Willy-nilly

My cousin told me about the rumors that the son of the owner of this local superstore is mentally challenged. Sometimes he announces over the PA system that there's a 50% sale at a whim but sometimes he slaps customer and his barong tagalog-swathed entourage of bodyguards would immediately soothe the offended parties by shelling out huge amounts of cash to cover for the groceries they happen to be carrying. (And then some, so I heard.)

"It's the miracle hand," my cousin jested.

"No," I replied back, "he's got a DotA item. It's called the Hand of Midas."

If I go malling and that little suckass slaps me, I'll fucking Transmute him.

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UFO: Alien Invasion Version 2.2 Now Out!

Finalmente!

If I were a military sci-fi writer I'd go:
Rifleman Wilkes fired shot after shot of uranium-depleted rounds as the South African village started to disintegrate under a sizzling hail of energy bolts from the UFO. Things were starting to pour out of the ship, carrying particle-based weaponry. F###, Wilkes thought, the UN wasn't prepared for this! F###, no one is! A hut exploded on his right, as blue death once again spat from the hulk's laser batteries...

Those who know my art don't worry I have not flipped, the above doodle is just that, a doodle. (Grin, grin.) Anyway, on to the article...

The team that has been developing the open-source (freeware) revival of an X-com type of game has announced that v2.2 of their turn- and squad-based, 3D tactical shooter is now out.

The version has now UFO interception, something that has been lacking in their earlier versions.

Links:

Homepage

Changelog (List of changes from the previous versions)

Promo video




Postscript:

I have been shocked to learn that a LOT of so-called hardcore gamer friends of mine (sorry hehe!) have no idea of what X-Com is. It's like being a historian specializing in heroes and not knowing who is Abraham Lincoln or Jose Rizal. Or a shooter fan not knowing who is John Carmack and John Romero.

Or hell, John-117.

To remedy that you need to read what game

HAS BEEN AWARDED BY GAMESPOT AS ONE OF THE GREATEST GAMES OF ALL TIME.

HAS BEEN HAILED BY IGN TO BE THEIR TOP #1 PC GAME OF ALL TIME.

"While there were a lot of arguments between us as to what games would make the list and where they would end up, the number one title was never even discussed." --- IGN

Strong words by IGN. Now play the FREE, 3D successor to this DOS-based precursor.

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Real Life Nanotech Power Armor

"Execute Order 66."


Well, there's no clone army yet but if you thought military-grade power armor like the ones in Starship Troopers and Crysis are fictional, you need to read these:

Wikipedia: Powered Exoskeleton

NewScientist.com: Exoskeleton Update

Spiegel Online International: Pentagon to Develop Super-Suits

Still a far cry from tossing humvees into the air but we're getting there. Next stop: FTL travel.

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War Rock Maps

The Wanderer lost

New Map! This is the first War Rock map that is dimly lit and it's set in a subway to boot! The map is designed to be fought with literally run-and-gun tactics; camping will definitely get you killed as the map has multiple paths that will allow enemies to blindside you. Except if you are playing next to your teammates and/or you can coordinate with each other to provide cover fire, this map is best played by moving to different parts of the map everytime you kill someone.

Wait. I thought Zakarum Zealots and Blunderbores live here? Where's my +7 longsword?!!

Monsters are coming out of the tombs! How do you use this artifact?!! AAAAIIIIEEEEE----*

Now this --- this is a total winner. Good potential. 'Could be the next AYB phenomenon. Prepare your bases and move all Zig; they are back.

Yep, it's a subway all right. Where's the one that goes all the way to SM? I need to go to Datablitz.

Geezers

For some reason Nerbil reminds me of Half-life 2. It goes without saying that this map is composed of two bases, albeit this one is flanked by a bridge at one side and an open expanse in the other. A railroad track runs under the bridge and separates the two bases. The middle region is littered with huge containers. This is also the first War Rock map I have played in that has a weather effect, namely snow.

Players have complained however, that one side has a sniper’s nest and has the higher ground. Unless some fix could be made this isn’t really a well-balanced battle terrain.

Change the skins to rebels and stormtroopers, take away the present-time industrial look and this may as well be Hoth. Hmmm, a free sci-fi, team- and class-based multiplayer shooter. Oh, well, never hurts to dream...

(Later note: Now I understand what that fellow in the War Rock forums was yammering about the area in the Derbaran side where the healing rack is located being inverted. It is!! The open side, unlike that of the NIUs’, faces the enemy side! If you are one of the Derbarans and you are healing yourself using the rack, there is absolutely no cover for you from enemy snipers from the other side! Granted, this reduces down time for you as you can still fire from where you are standing and down enemy soldiers but still, if your members are newbies and there are pro snipers in the other side, it’s nighty-night scorey. Tut, tut, NIU operatives must have designed this one.)

Here’s a slightly older map. Nothing like midday gunfights to kick out the Doom 3 kinks…. (I enabled 2x anti-aliasing so this one’s cleaner to look at than the first picture.)

Here’s an old favorite of mine that’s popular with the majority of the game’s player base:

Two bases are separated by three warehouses in the middle with two hills flanking both sides of the map. Vehicles are available namely anti-personnel tanks, motorcycles, and humvees. Perfect for assault, heavy troopers, and snipers alike. Engineers won’t find much use here however, the map being too small — and consequently dangerous — for lightly-armed engineers to alight and fix vehicles. Medics are of course, too indispensable for any team to exclude in their lineup in any map.

Another golden oldie that was added way back in the early beta days of the game:

I like this one because of its multi-storey buildings that overlook large parts of the map. The map still forces teams to come up with a perfect balance of snipers and close-range classes though as the center is a mass of wires, girders, and small structures where combatants can hide before making sprints for the enemy base. Humvees are available making heavy weapon troopers valuable in teams.

The one shown below is my favorite if I want to give my eyes a rest. This is to date, the largest map released in the game and the vehicles in it are no less colossal. Tanks — "real" tanks — this time, rumble through the desertscape and are the keys to winning Ohara. This is also the only map where the efficiency of assault and medics are trimmed down somewhat. Heavy troopers, engineers, and snipers have heightened usefulness here due to the absence of shelter and the vehicle-centered gameplay. The firefights are less frenetic, being more deliberate as the wide expanse isolates close-quarter combat to the scattered neutral bases and these are far between. There are also motorcycles, humvees and supply trucks in the map.

If the one above is my favorite in the Battle Group servers, the one below is the one I hate most. The map is a long stretch of cityscape with narrow halls that are an assault trooper’s worst nightmare. While humongous fun can still be had from close- and long-range soldiers alike, it’s the drop in framerates that annoy me whenever the choppers show up. I cannot imagine how this affects cafe users, who largely compose the game’s player base and who are limited to using low-end gaming machines. I’m using a Pentium 4 though so this is a major factor. Still, all other maps, including Ohara, which is way larger, do not have this flaw. I wonder…

I like Zakhar’s style of having war machines in a very narrow map though as it introduces a gameplay that is unique from the others.

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Deleting "Undeletable" Files

Transferred from my first blog. (07122007)

And so I…..

…. tried downloading F.E.A.R. Combat, a FREE online multiplayer shooter game. It weighs in at a hefty 1.8Gb. I got so far as 1.4Gb before my rig, for some unknown reason, decided to splutter and collapse.

I didn’t turn off the effing thing for a full day and a night just for that. Major bummer. My uncle Murphy must be doing a jig right now.

And so I….

….erased the partially downloaded humongous collective of stunning graphics and even more stunning physics. Or tried to. The partially downloaded installer, which was then a bloated mess of 1.4Gb, was deleted immediately. However, its geeky friend, whose shrimpy digital physique didn’t even register in my PC’s virtual weighing scale, refused to budge. It was parked innocuously on my desktop, bespectacled eyes bulging, its slack jaw drooling with a digital innocence that irked me to no end.

I could not delete the blasted thing.

Everytime I tried doing so, the system would complain something about "another person or program is using this file. Please close any program that may be doing so." I was stumped; my PC wasn’t running anything!

Eff. Eff. Eff.

I tried cleaning the registry manually, erasing all vestiges of "fearcombat_en_107", and it did naught. It still sat there like a marble mule. It was Archie’s jalopy, an X-com Floater, a Dawn of War Ork gretchin.

Goliat may have been deleted but Kuling was still there.

And so I…..

….ran out of options.

I swallowed my techie pride and ran off to the nearest helpful forum, Tech-PC. I asked and a helpful member by the name of Hux told me to download MoveOnBoot.

And so I…

….installed it, smashed the marble mule, rammed the jalopy, shot down the Floater, and orbital bombarded the gretchin. The freeware, which I didn’t hear about until now, worked without a hitch.

NOTE:

I was about to say "worked flawlessly" and so would have saved on the word count. Flawless; it dominated way back in 2001 when the average gaming geek’s world was ruled by cybernetic ninjas and an undead one dressed in yellow garb who sought revenge.

Osang ruined it all.

Flawless. Bleeah.

-----------------------

Comments:

FLAWLESS. Geek. Haha! Did you try booting your comp in safe mode and deleting the files (although this is a no-brainer)? -- Kilawinguwak

A shit floating in the sea? I thought for sometime that you can remove manually by reformatting… eheheh nah too dang! not a first option.

Well said about the cleaning tool… gotta have that one installed on my 2.13GHZ/512VC/512M PC.

hehhehe way to go! -- Joath

@Mart: restart, regedit, safe mode, even unplugged my connection and switched off background programs >> I even tried the kitchen sink. Nada. Nothing worked.

@John: Urrrk. He’s showing his specs!! (/me runs from the spirit of Michael lol!) When my 8800 ultra arrives, I shall crush, immolate, and obliterate your rig.

Goodgodsofthecelestialsphereswhoraindowncleansingfireonnon-tweakers
I just enjoyed how your eyes popped out just now! Lawl! I jest. No, I am Uncle Scrooge when it comes to buying videocards, if I have the money, my forehead usually crinkles when thinking about buying stuff. Like what it’s doing now the more I think of buying a pen tablet this afternoon. (no, it’s not gonna be more RAM, John, my graphic novel has waited for far too long already haha! —- and Mart’s planned comic strip!) -- Shazbot

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Feeling Like Caramon and Sam

Finally.

After much procrastination (and shopping splurges) I finally bought a graphics tablet. I wasn't able to buy the one I wanted, a cheaper Genius G-pen, as the last of them was sold a week back. I got a Manhattan 5.5" X 4" instead. Damned thing costs as much as a (albeit smaller) Wacom.

I gave it a whirl and:

First try with a graphics tablet.

Ya, ya, guilty as charged; I colored the most interesting bits --- I mean parts, uh, huge 'uns --- I mean bits, ya, bits. Lol! Anyway, I think I got the part about filling in the base color all wrong, I think I should have paint bucketed it. But the shading is all fine though so I'm very happy with the art and the equipment. It's not a Wacom but...

... I'm home.

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