Becca, I can confirm that your username is an issue. The angle brackets, < and >, appear to be disallowed characters. I modified a test user with "~*<" and tried to get in and was denied. I doubt that is something the chat folks can fix, although I can ask if there is a workaround.
Emma, the following procedure should be foolproof if the issue is Java. If it does not work, then your problem is not as simple as others have had, and we will have to dig.
- If you haven't, which I think you have, download either Chrome or Opera brower
- Clear your temporary internet files/cache and all cookies. Close your browser
- Open your Control Panel from the Start menu (this all assumes you use Windows)
- Look for "All Programs" (Windows XP) or "Programs and Features" (Vista/7)
- Open it and find anything like "Java X Update X" or "Java(TM) X Update XX" where X is a number
- Remove or uninstall those things
- Restart your computer
- Visit http://www.java.com and click on the "Free Java Download" button
- Follow the instructions to install Java
- Restart your computer
- Open the TMF and log in. Do you have the same issue?