Noob to android flashing .

[skreemer7]

I have been playing around with Android for a few weeks now on my TP2. Still have a few questions that I haven't seen cleared up anywhere.

What is the difference between the different types of updates, i.e, what is different in the new builds such as froyo 04 vs 05, system.ext2 files, and new kernels? Is there a good similar analogy to WM or even a regular OS or something to clear that up?

When all the first posts say to run all the programs on the first boot, what does this exactly do? Does it just create the program's files so they are quicker to open next time? Would it matter for example if I opened half of my programs on the first boot, then rebooted and then opened the other half on the 2nd boot? I ask because there have been a few times when Android would spontaneously reboot on me after opening one or two programs during my first boot. Would it be optimal in this case to delete the data file and start over or just continue opening new programs on the next boot?

Sorry the questions are kind of long, couldn't think of a better way to word them.