I've had my brand new Studio 15, my first computer ever, since November. I started getting the blue screen about a week or two after it came in the mail.  At the time, I didn't think much about it because the laptop would reboot immediately.  So, unfortunately, I didn't fully tackle this problem during the 21-day period of exchanges and refunds. (If I had, I would have returned it and gotten a Mac by now.)

I've had other problems with the laptop that, thanks to the kind folks in India or Bangalore or wherever they are, have been solved. For quite a few weeks, I was blue-screen free!

However, on Inauguration Night, the blue screen returned and it's happened once more since then.

It pops up whenever it chooses - using the web, playing Solitaire - it's even happened RIGHT AFTER I TURNED ON THE COMPUTER!

I've told Dell Tech Support about the issue and the last thing I was told was to save ALL my files and then return the machine to factory settings. From what I've been told by techie friends, this is a long and laborious process that would include reinstalling Vista and the like.

I was talking to a techie buddy of mine at work and she said that restoring my laptop to factory settings was the tactic of last resort and it was Dell's way  of saying, "Buzz off! It's not our problem!" She also told me that if I don't get this resolved that I could end up with a laptop full of corrupted files.

So, what do you guys think? Should I try the factory settings thing? The prospect of that frightens me as I am a first-time computer user and am not really sure what that procedure entails. 

What are my other options? I'm getting really worried about this and am REAL close to taking my machine to the Geek Squad. I know I paid $250 for the extra tech support, but I'm so frustrated with Dell that I don't want to deal with them anymore.

P.S. Someone pointed out that I might not have enough memory. My machine has 4 gigs of it. Is there anything higher than that?