I have been poking around there but have not had much luck..

Here's my input on a few things:

First - contacts and apps and stuff, yo.   USE A GOOGLE/GMAIL account!  I had a GMail account long before Android came out, so it was natural to just use it.  Contacts and apps are somewhat backed up that way.  At least the contacts are fully synced over the air automatically.  When you load up a new ROM or do a factory reset of your device, you are asked to sign in to your Google account, then it asks if you want to use it to back up your data.  I can't remember exactly what it says, but it is something to that affect.  Then when you switch to another ROM and sign into your Google account, it doesn't really restore everything exactly as you had it, but it does reinstall the applications you had installed.  At least mostly.  I've noticed a couple things missing, but most of my apps get restored.  

Again, while the apps get restored, the data and settings do not.  I haven't really messed around with Ti Backup to try to restore app data/settings yet.

As far as connecting to the ARFCOM mail server, I don't know what the settings are because I don't use it.  I would guess it's a simple POP3 setup, but it may actually use IMAP.  You'd have to dig around and see if there's a Silver/Gold member FAQ.  The settings should be the same on your phone as if you were setting up a client on your desktop computer... so I'd assume that information is out there on ARFCOM somewhere.

FromThis link.

PC Client Setup Information:
POP3 (inbound mail) Server: mail.ar15.com
SMTP (outbound mail) Server: mail.ar15.com

I entered that in and it worked with the old ROM but not liberty.

Got hotmail to work but ar15 email is still a no go...

Matt_Q, if you go into the Liberty Tool Box->App Management->Install Addons you can install the blur version of the camera, as well as other apps you may miss from blur.

 

Well at some point I lost service on my phone, no calls or texts in or out. Even after I added a few contacts back onto the phone manually they dissapeared again. I managed to unroot and get back to my old phone, all of my contacts and apps were there except for the bloatware which I guess was deleted when I installed Rubix.
Now am I going to have a problem for the next ota since the bloatware is gone. I didn't mean to delete it but, it turns out Chuck Norris mode was automatically checked and I guess that deleted it on it's own.

 
 

Kinda on the rooting topic  do I need to root the phone to uninstall factory-loaded crapware?  My new optimus came with "where?", it's pounding my battery and uninstall is grayed out.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Generally, yes. But research alot before you do anything because uninstalling certain factory apps can permanently break things like WIFI and radio.





 

Oops.



Better reflash with the default image.



 

Would you mind going into a little more detail on that.  
 
 

This is why I recommend rooting and using Titanium Backup even if you don't run other ROMs.   Ti Backup lets you 'freeze' the bloatware and other apps.  Then come time for an OTA update, you unfreeze and update.  You'll of course then have to make sure that you can root the new firmware, otherwise the bloatware would stay.

Shut off the phone.

Hold the HOME button while you power on.  Keep holding the home button until you see the ! in the triangle.  Let it up, then hit the Search button.  You'll then have the stock recovery menu.  Nuke and pave.

Looks cool, I may do it.  I can't see for sure on their website, will either the free or paid version let me use the phone as a WiFi hot spot?



Edit:  Nevermind, just found this.
 

Will I still have my apps, contacts and settings or will everything be wiped out?