[quote name='molly1;40410]Hi everyone. Sorry for sounding so stupid' date=' but I'm new to all of this. I have the same m003 clone. When you say you can "flash it" what does that mean? It came with 1.7.4. Will the slatedroid firmware upgrade improve the performance, and if so, in what way? I did download the utube.apk and it's working. I also added the Kindle.apk which is awesome since using it as an ereader was the main reason I bought it. Any improvements or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.[/QUOTE'] No problem welcome.Flashing ROM for newbies.(also 1st draft of wiki guide to do it)Flashing a custom Rom is a process that replaces some the system programs, fonts and default apps all at once. First of all ROM is not really ROM. (Read Only Memory)it's read all the time but under special cases you can write to memory. It is used where ROM was used in the past. Besides RATTBUSCYCWTM is to long and hard to say. SO Flashing a ROM is the process of Writing to the ROM.Normally they are a kind of 'Remix' of what is in the standard ROM. Some things are removed , some are changed and New things added.Different ROMs are different mixes for different tastes. Some Strip out a lot of stuff but what is left is faster. Others take out some stuff and replace other parts with fancier versions and so on.Most of the ROMs here remove Chinese only apps. most replace the normal launcher/Desktop with a different one. Some add/replace the google market app with one that doesn't crash as soon as you open it. (need more to make it fully work)Another thing a lot of ROM is give 'root' access and add root level features. this can be done with out flashing the rom but is complicated and needs special software on your pc and a way to connect it to the slate. Having it done as part of the flash is easier.root is giving you access to protected parts of the system that can really mess up your device. But with root you can do thing s like add memory managers and swap files to make your system faster.All that sounds complicated and a little scary (will it kill my device?). But the whole idea of Flashing a ROM is to hide all the complicated stuff behind a simple process. It's also pretested to work so it's pretty safe.It's kind of like booting off a CD drive on a pc.Download the ROM you want to a PC and extract it from the zip or rar file. all the stuff it needs is in a /script folder. Copy that /script folder with all it's contents to your sdcard.Power off your device. make sure sdcard is in it.Turn it on.When it sees the /script folder and files in it. It will do a special boot. Most start with a countdown so if you don't want to do it you have time to hold down the power button and stop it.after the count down it starts erasing old stuff and adding in new.This takes a while and prints a lot of stuff a developer needs to know,but most of us don't care.It finally tells you to remove the sdcard.When you do it reboots.The first time it comes up can take a long time. leave it alone for a while.Your new system is now running. that was it. Your screen may look very different now a new launcher icons moved around , widgets preinstalled, etcJust like leaving that boot cd in the pc leaving the /script folder on the sdcard is a bad idea. put the sdcard back in and delete the /script folder. You still have a copy on your PC anyway.Comments? (like I said I will polish this up a bit add screen shots and photos and add it to the Wiki)