if it's CoolWebSearch on your system, get CWS Shedder, which removes all but very recent versions of CoolWebSearch.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

That site is also a wealth of info and such on various 'scumware' check his news and forums for more recent and up to date info on his battle with CWS.

Also, I recommend getting both AdAware and Spybot:Search and Destroy and running them both regularly, they'll get rid of 99% of misc junk you get from regular web surfing. The free version of AdAware is all you need, Spybot is free as well.
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

As for general virus protection, there are various free things around the net, but I personally use F-Secure Anti-Virus 2004. Cheap, as effective and regularly updated as the big boys McAfee/Norton, and much lighter on the system resources.
http://www.f-secure.com/

Headthump pointed out a good free Firewall, I never really liked ZoneAlarm when I used it, nor do I like Mcafee or Norton's... I use Kerio Personal Firewall 5. Again, Cheap, Effective, Updated, and easy on the system.
http://www.kerio.com/kerio.html

Also, Internet Explorer is full of exploits and whatnot, it's recommended to use an alternitive browser for general surfing. I use Opera 7, but many people use Mozilla. Both are good, so make your own choice, I only use IE now for the few pages that just don't work right without it.
http://www.opera.com/
http://www.mozilla.org/

All this should help you clean up some of that crap. Here's another good page with alot of the same info I just gave you and a ton of other stuff. It's a good read and written by a guy on the SomethingAwful forums.
http://www.io.com/~cwagner/spyware.html 

Yes, I enjoy doing DM maps alot, but the majority of speedmappers have all been into SP maps becuase the majority of people looking at the maps are into SP.

RPG now runs a small custom map server off his cable connection which is decent enough for some 4-5 player matchs, and I'm sure whenever he's around for speedmapping he'd be willing to host maps for a few rounds. If not, I can always host small, but laggy, games off my connection. 

I was recently recommend AVG antivirus (they offer a free edition) and it seems pretty damn good for the money. 

Of course you're perfectly right, and if you enjoy creating SP speedmaps then that's all the motivation you need...

All I meant to say was that for me personally, SP speedmaps are fairly pointless because I have not found even one SP speedmap to be remotely enjoyable to play. I just don't think 60-100 minutes is enough time to craft a significant SP experience. On the other hand, it seems perfectly possible to make a fun DM map within that timelimit.

Sure, you may enjoy making SP speedmaps, and they are certainly interesting to look at at times, but in terms of producing a fun playable map, all the speedmaps that I've seen have fallen pretty far short.

The above is of course just my opinion, but it is based at least in part on the results I've seen from previous speedmap sessions. 

I have tried all of those things, including CWShredder, which did absolutely jack shit. It said my system was completely clean of CWSearch, even though Ad-Aware 6.0 and Norton Anti-Virus say otherwise. And seeing as vital Windows files have been infected and cannot be cleaned, deleted, quarantined or removed without Windows complaining on startup, I feel I have no choice but to reformat and reinstall.
I used to use Opera7 but it didn't handle Java applets and things like that very well for me, so that's why I switched to IE, but since then I've switched to Firefox which seems a whole lot sexier anyway. IE is a piece of garbage anyway. 

I always enjoy an SP speedmap as a fun playing experience, if even for a few seconds. I dunno, they've all been fun to play for me, even though they've not been fine-tuned as much as a regular map. They're not the best SP experiences I've ever had, mind you, but since they come out at least 2 or 3 a week, that's plenty enough fun :)

I still haven't loaded up the DM pack from last session though, don't have anyone to DM with. I might try to get it spread around at the LAN today though, get some good fraggin on :) 

I do have to agree with you there. However, I guess I was generally referring to the silly-themed speedmaps. SP can't be beat for those. However, I do agree that the more creative can create some really impressive stuff in the timeframe.

Some of the older SP speedmaps had some cool stuff, even in a short map, but lately the serious SP stuff has just become boring.

But my point still remains. If the person making it enjoys the speedmapping process of making an SP map, then it doesn't really matter. 

What do you find lacking about SP speedmaps? Sure most of them suck, but that's true for DM as well. The only thing i can see "wrong" about the good SP speedmaps is that they are relatively short. Is that the problem? 

speedmaps very much and I think others do, too. Even if the maps often are short, many of them are great fun and offer a lot of good ideas.

I think the current mix of SP/DM is good and in any case the important thing is that the mappers themselves have fun creating the maps. 

sm84 is done, but it looks like spawnpoint is down atm. so possibly it'll be released later today I guess. :( 

to sm84, maybe? Seems like several hosts have problems now ... 

pack up now, see news
http://celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=19795 

I generally don't enjoy playing them. But then I don't even like SPQ that much unless its done really well, so whatever. As I said above I find them 'interesting' and 'worth a look' (I say this as a level designer) but ultimately they're of no use to me as a player.

On the other hand some of the DM speedmaps are useful to me as a player because the good ones can at the very least provide some good gameplay for 10 minutes. 

In my opinion, that's exactly what the better SP speedmaps provide -- good gameplay for 10 minutes. So i guess i was trying to get at what you thought made SP speedmaps bad. Visuals, gameplay, length, storyline -- what is lacking? 

So i guess i was trying to get at what you thought made SP speedmaps bad. Visuals, gameplay, length, storyline -- what is lacking?


Just overall quality in all areas, FFS it's not exactly rocket science to work that out. 

Dunno, I didn't analyse it that much... all of the above?

Take sm84 for instance... I loaded the SP levels and played them for between 1 and 10 seconds (each) before quitting because they were such absolute shit. Mappers who participated in this pack, don't get all pissy, its just my opinion... and I couldn't do any better in an hour!

Perhaps I just haven't seen the 'better' sp speedmaps. I don't download them all, I tend to just download the packs occasionally when I see them posted here. At a guess I have downloaded 10 to 15 speedmap packs in total (that's not a lot considering they're up to 84). 

Mine was absolute shit on purpose :) 

I also just wanted to point out that to most experienced Quake players, an all-out, months of work, detailed SP level usually takes around 9-11 minutes. Other times it's usually less. A single-player speedmap will not last that long, it will last maybe around 2-3 minutes. However, if you find a good replay value in a deathmatch speedmap, as the gameplay originates not from monster placement and a good, maybe puzzling layout, but from the map allowing for strategy to be used in a few people jumping around killing each other. Because the person setting up a server defines a timelimit, 10 minutes being a good one, the fun lasts until somebody gets tired of it. But there is no way that a single-player speedmap will last anymore than 2 minutes, unless you stop along every 4 feet and admire the architecture while killing your enemies. Especially the good speedmaps, as there can exist some incredible attention to detail, but doing so will significantly decrease gameplay time, as detail does take a long time.

All in all, it is being analyzed way too much here. As I said before, if the person wants to do it, then they do it. And if somebody makes a SP map, and somebody like Fribbles says he doesn't like it, then he has right to not like it. What does it matter? Will it really change the right of a person participating in a speedmapping session to make a single-player map? No. Mr. Fribbles saying he does not enjoy playing SP speedmaps does absolutely nothing to anybody, it is just what he thinks. And saying that it would be a good idea to simply make DM maps for the people who play the packs, that is just something to think about. In the end, there is no point in analyzing what he thinks, because whenever somebody thinks anything, there's a big chance it's going to somehow conflict with what you are going to think. 

I gave it my all, actually. 

...done better, but I crapped out w/15 minutes left in the time and didn't bother checking for some glaring errors...

I'm still happy with what I produced in <75 minutes.

(I'm also too lazy to log into func) 

RPG now runs a small custom map server off his cable connection which is decent enough for some 4-5 player matchs, and I'm sure whenever he's around for speedmapping he'd be willing to host maps for a few rounds.

Scampie speaks the truth. I would like to have more DM-themed events where we play the maps afterwards. That was fun.

And I have to agree that most SP speedmaps suck. Poorly balanced, buggy, frequently lacking innovation--there's just not much there to appreciate. I have to say, though, that I have seen several that look and play exactly like a small portion of a regular SP map, so kudos to those.

For the next SP speedmap I do, I plan to not bother with the visuals, and focus solely on creating an interesting gameplay experience. We'll see how it goes. 

so it must be the visuals. Thanks for the answer. 

for anyone interested, this week's map was a fave of mine becuase I had the most fun making it, laughing at how stupidly I could get things done. I hate when I have to work at mapping just so it can be fun for someone for 10 seconds. 

Like I said, your map reminded me greatly of my very first released map, and this is may sound pathetic, but Frik's lasts a lot longer.

I enjoyed playing this pack a lot because it made me laugh. I'm involved with a mod project right now, and there's a lot of pressure involved in creating really good maps that other people will be able to enjoy, good gameplay, as perfect as I can make it.

When something like this speedmap session comes along, fun as hell, it's a great way to remind yourself that a game is always about having fun. 

I hate when I have to work at mapping just so it can be fun for someone for 10 seconds.

But really, doesn't that accurately define just about every work of art in the world? Somebody works hard and intensely on this thing, that they completely devote themselves to, and it's so incredibly simple for somebody to look at it for a few seconds, which most people do with art, and dismiss it with "It's not good enough, do better." There will be the few who look into what they see, really focus on it and see the work and heart that was put into it, but how rare are those people? They hardly exist. No matter what the medium, no matter how hard you work, somebody will (maybe) enjoy it for a small portion of their life, and then odds are they will forget about it.

So if you're worrying that somebody will enjoy something you create for a small fraction of time, you should realize how lucky you are that they will even actually enjoy it for that amount of time.