I just got my first Linux box yesterday and managed to crash it three
times. Now I need some expert help so I know which stoopid mistake
to avoid making in the future ...

This is all happening on a Dell Inspiron, brand new out of the box
with no mods, adds, or anything else. I've gotta also say that this
is my first laptop and I'm not yet real comfortable with navigating
with a touchpad.

Anyway, I was fooling around with the screen savers, checking them
out and so forth, and got to the one called "ants" or something like
that. At that point I must have clicked something wrong because the
entire desktop vanished and all I saw was the "wait" clock. I let it
sit for a few minutes and then tried to get the desktop back with no
success. Had to pull the plug!

I restarted the computer hoping that the problem had fixed itself,
went back to the screen saver selection dialog box and found that
the "ants" option was still selected and after a few (very few)
seconds the screen froze again.

Now I'm stymied! I'm ***REALLY*** looking forward to getting out
from under Big Brother in Redmond but I do need an OS that's
forgiving of fumblefingers. Any help out there??