Getting yourself accustomed to using ARES isn't hard—but it does about an hour or so to work through all of the guides below. If you're a returning Companion user, you can mostly skim this part, but don't get too complacent. Many features have changed, and running the Setup program is strongly recommended.

Having trouble accessing your brand-new ARES system? Read this.
  1. Booting up for the first time
  2. Running the Setup wizard
  3. The ARES interface (HUD)
  4. Accessing menus of yourself and others
  5. Guests and consent
  6. Users, Managers, and Owners
  7. Bans and disabling self access
  8. Chat: How to disable the chat redirect (green/object text)
  9. Chat: How to change your name
  10. Chat: How to alter the speech marker (chat sound)
  11. Chat: Why use the chat redirect?
  12. Power: Recharging and battery health
  13. Power: The power control (subsystems) menu
  14. Using personas
  15. Damage, overheating, and repair
  16. Chat: Manipulating chat messages
  17. Command line basics
  18. Updating ARES to a new version
  19. Shutting down and removing ARES
  20. Configuring ARES for a military unit
  21. Configuring ARES for a sex robot
  22. Configuring ARES for control freaks
  23. Dealing with bugs and unexpected behavior
  24. Next steps