[Galaxy S III General] Journyman16:
OK, the difference between what I saw on the youtube and what was in the guide I used seems to have been the parts about (in Recovery) wiping the data and deleting cache and dalvik cache. I might be wrong and one of the gurus here could clear things up...

But deleting or changing Contacts was clearfly, in my case, not going to be a solution - Touchwiz was the first error and there were a couple of others.

Some history... I have been doing User Support and Desktop Help as well as Sysadmin since 1987. I am a noob to Android but definitely not to computers nor effing around with system partitions.I LIKED DOS and I can think my way through software issues with an aplomb that users have called for. In other words, I am not a nuff-nuff.

But the confusion generated by ST's Guide where I can just run CF-Root-SGS3-v6.4 or CF-SGS3-CWM-v5.5-v1.5 (forgive me if I am quoting the wrong poster for the thread) and then find threads telling me to install Android SDK so I can access ADB to root my phone is nothing short of awesome.

I rooted my phone. I tried to run the approved Aussie ROM on it, and then had to recover things so it would work. Did I miss a step? Was it that even though my PC recognised and allowed Odin access to my phone I should have first run Samsung USB drivers? Should I have found out what an 'Insecure kernel' is and installed one? WTF is an insecure kernel and what programs give you one if you DON'T want to run a DOS window and do command line commands?

In all the hundreds of ROMs, Kernels. and other installations presented here on site, what, as a Noob, should I be looking for? The version numbers don't mean much to me. I prefer to stay with an Aussie version but if there's a JB out there that makes my phone run better, longer, faster, I could give a flying eff when Telstra decides to update my phone... but apart from a thread offering 'buttery smooth' menu motions, none of the ROM's seem to have descriptions of WHY I should install them.

I have bought Titanium Backup and System Panel on recommendations of a thread about battery life that seems to have nothing to do with battery life but has some fascinating stuff in it anyway (see http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=471521&page=4 and I am backing up every time I make changes that I like, but some of these programs seem to duplicate what others do - e.g. there's a File Explorer download that offers rooting, kernel and ROM installs AND lots of file-type options, but given I have CF Root, CWM, Super SU, Titanium etc. why would I need another?

I am happy to learn. I don't mind paying for the work others have done. As the OP documents, I am willing to take a risk with my hardware to try things out.

But...

is there anywhere on here where anyone has done an Intro to Android systems?

Is there a Glossary somewhere to explain all the acronyms?

Has anyone done a step-by-step of what you replace and why to get a fully functional and fast phone?

Is there a location somewhere on site where the ROM's can be downloaded? (what I have seen is mostly references to ROM's with no links to how to find the MD5 file)

Is there somewhere on site where the features of particular ROM's is listed?

If I am rooted, what else do I need to be able to flash (say) the buttery smooth JB?