"Running "make oldconfig" will pickup any changed features in the new kernel. You can go back and make further changes if you want, but normally you already did that configuring your last kernel version."

What if your "last kernel version" was the one you installed? Seriously, when I did my first kernel compile I simply did not need to be overwhelmed by make oldconfig asking me a bunch of questions. I didn't know how to respond, because I didn't understand what I was being asked. When faced with such a situation, most of us choose the default anyway, right? That would be the same as not running make oldconfig, I think.

You will probably get a working kernel regardless of whether you run make oldconfig, or not. That is a big accomplishment for the guy or gal who has just switched from the Microsoft world. Eventually, they're going to learn enough through osmosis and mistakes to understand that they should probably go through the config and turn off a bunch of useless stuff. But, in reality, memory's cheap. The difference between a 25MB kernel and a 15MB kernel is what? Nothing? Am I right in thinking that you get a bigger performance hit from enabling highmem to take advantage of those 2GB of RAM you installed?

Kudos to everyone who has trimmed their kernel of every last wasted byte. You win.

I deliberately added the word "might" as I'm very aware that people use the vanilla kernel sources in a Debian system w/o problems. But there is a risk that it can cause troubles...