Don't be worried about the first time lol.. Be worried that once you start you wont stop. My bf was rooted first and talked me into it.. now he never mods anything and I flash roms/themes daily I always have 3-4 nandroids on sd that are my go tos and then try everything new .. I like to dig around and okay with things i shouldnt and extract themes and apk and tear them apart to see how they are built by diff devs. I signed up for google app developer and read through the android dev site and downloaded all the programs etc. Created all the basic apps and have started toying with making themes.. there is soooo much i dont know and want to learn and i am usually not patient enough to read too much first! That being said even I have never messed things up too bad... boot loops from hell etc but always been able to recover.. I keep my nandroids etc backed up on my computer too just in case i somehow fry my sd card..
Where i run into the most minor issues is playing with kernerls my droid says fu to anything above 1100 .. however may bf is still running a slayer 1280 1,4 i think... i am still nervous about playing wiht my metamorph but i will.... just do it ! its addictive though ... i say buy titanium backup for sure and find a file manager you really like also I would say get set cpu and i personally like system panel , mini info , app brain, root tools. root explorer, power control plus, and alogcat
If you are still not sure about a rom/theme yet then i would agree that playing with diffrent home apps is fun maybe try sweeterhome as it really helped me get a foot in the door with customizing from the floor up.
Find a terminal you like
Root tools has a lot of cool stuff like ad blocking and apps to sd..
other apps to play with:
apptoolkit
folder organizer sms archiver or txt archiver
intent playground
you can play with a lot of those kind of apps to keep curiosity satisfied for a while.. I also rec playing with adv and learning it .
there was a post on here awhile back i dont remember who or where but i saved it ...still havent read it all lol but it looks great .. may help with the unease of getting it back how you like it
"Credit for this guide goes to Girluvsdroid(thank you this has helped alot of people when wiping and doing a clean restores of apps and data)
How to start clean & restore using titanium backup
I do a lot of ROM testing and I always wipe all partitions going to new ROMs, or even new versions of the same ROM. I did the same between test versions of PEv3. For those who are interested in getting a clean start when they load this blazing new ROM, here's how I do it:
1. Purchase the license for Titanium Backup (TiBu) if you don't already have it -- it's worth it -- and go to Batch and use "Backup all user apps + system data."
2. Do a nandroid backup of your current setup, then, using ClockworkMod Recovery, do a factory reset (wipe data and cache), then go into the partitions menu and do a wipe of boot, then of system.
3. Install the ROM zip file following the instructions in the OP.
4. Once you boot up, touch the top left, then the top right, then the bottom right, then the bottom left (in a square pattern) of the screen to skip Google sign in.
5. Make sure you have "Unknown sources" checked in System>Applications.
6. Open TiBu and go into Preferences and make sure you have "Force to same location" checked (this will then make sure your apps and data are restored to the device and SD card, as applicable, exactly as they were when you did your backup).
7. Go into Batch and and start with "Restore missing apps + all system data" -- we'll do apps and data in the next step. When you restore missing apps + all missing data, here's the important thing: press "Deselect all" and ONLY check the items in GREEN (this will restore all your call log, SMS/MMS, accounts, wifi and bluetooth connections, etc.). If you restore the stuff in red, you're restoring system data from prior ROMs, which could cause you all kinds of issues. NOW, here's another very important caveat: some people have found that restoring [SETTINGS/BLUETOOTH] Settings Storage 2.2.1 from "Restore missing apps + all system data" can cause issues (for example, if you had a password (PIN) to unlock your phone when you did your TiBu backup and you restore this setting on your new ROM, you may find yourself completely locked out after you set your password on your new ROM and you reboot -- which means that you'd have to wipe and start over again; also restoring that item from one version of LFY to the next, or coming from LFY to PE3, restores all the Liquid Tweaks data, including color choices in Interface, etc., and on LFY, this causes FCs in SpareParts--funny thing, though, I restored this item from LFY 1.95 to PE3 as an experiment and it restored all my settings from Liquid Tweaks to Elite Options and didn't cause any FCs in Spare Parts). One additional thing: you won't see some of your data (call log, SMS/MMS, etc.) until after a reboot -- I generally wait until Step 10 when I need to reboot to make my backup anyway, but it's certainly fine for you to go ahead and reboot now if you want to ensure that all your data is there.
8. After you've finished restoring the items in green (other than the one in my caveat above unless you're feeling adventurous), run "Restore missing apps with data" (these will all be missing items that are in WHITE text) and go through the list and make sure you've got only the items you really want to restore checked. DON'T restore Liquid Tweaks or Spare Parts if they're on your list.
9. Go to Settings>Accounts & sync, Add account and sign in to Google. Make sure Auto-sync is checked and that Sync Contacts, Sync Gmail and Sync Calendar, etc. are checked, and allow them to sync. It's possible that the Accounts restore in Step 7 already restored your account, but you should still look to be sure all your items are checked.
10. Make a nandroid backup of this setup BEFORE you start adding themes and kernels -- that way, it's easy to revert back to stock and start over if a theme or kernel messes you up.
If you run across any apps that restore from Market without your data, because you missed them in your TiBu restore, just go into TiBu and go to filters, type the name of the app, and restore data only.
The only thing left is that you'll likely have to set up your widgets again (at least I do in Sweeter Home 2) and you may have to restore some of your ringtones in contacts, Gmail, calendar and Gtalk.
One other note: if you have Swype, I've found that TiBu restore doesn't work right. If you have the official beta version that you're reinstalling from the Swype beta website, you'll want to reinstall the Swype installer, then Swype FIRST, before your full TiBu restore, to avoid the memory issues that plague Swype installs."
