Ugh-Freezing issues

I'm a noob when it comes to rooting things - so please be gentle.

I recently had my Fascinate rooted. Sure paid a guy in a store to do it and am thinking I wasted $30. I didn't do it myself because I felt overwhelmed by all the lingo and tech stuff that looks like a foreign language. I successfully rooted my Nook Color and had no problems but I was too afraid to do my phone since it is such a critical part of my life.

The main reason I had my phone rooted was so I could tether my Nook Color when I'm not at home. Well, since then my Fascinate keeps freezing up and/or apps randomly force closing.   Also, the battery life has gone from 14-16 hours to 6-8 hours. Not acceptable.

I turn of the wireless tether unless I want to connect (I've only used it once so it probably wasn't worth it). I installed Launcher Pro so I don't know if that makes a difference. I hope not, because I love it.

I hope someone might be able to help me out. I'm guessing anyone who is willing to take a shot at this may need more info so if you can tell me what you need, I'll post a reply with specifics.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for your response.  I don't understand very much about hacking but I'm willing to learn and pick up on stuff fairly quickly.  I just need a point in the right direction...there is soooo much info out there about rooting that I don't even know where to start.
Baseband: S:i1500.04 V.ED04
Build: SCH-I500.ED04
Firmware: 2.2.1
Kernal: 2.6.32.9

I don't know what you mean by what apps are using root.  I have Root Manager, Superuser but not sure what to use them for/what they do.

Most frequently Force closing apps: Phone (by far the most frustrating prob), Handcent, Gmail, Launcher Pro Widgets, Widgets, Market. At this point, I hardly know what is going to work and what isn't.

I am totally open to learn about hacking (I'm very comfortable with computers etc) but I don't know the lingo etc.  As I said, I successfully rooted my Nook Color but all I did was follow the video.  I WANT to UNDERSTAND this stuff and get full use of my phone's capabilities but I've been afraid to brick it. 

Now....well, someone else has screwed it up so I need to learn so I can fix it.    Obviously, I have learned the hard way not to let someone else jump into my phone.

I installed Spare Parts, Watchdog Lite, and CPU Spy to monitor.  Only had Watchdog alert me about 2 apps.  I live in an area that has had flooding so one was WeatherBug.  The other was Droid QR but I was using it at the time.

My battery (4018 mV at full charge) appears to be ok - but "Running" percentages seem to be high.  Battery charge only lasting about 4-5 hours.

FYI: I have a Mac computer.

Do you have Windows installed in boot camp? You can use a Mac with Heimdall, but Windows and ODIN are a lot easier. ODIN is a Samsung made utility that can flash anything to our phones. As long as you only flash stuff for the Verizon Fascinate, it is ALMOST impossible to brick it. The fascinate is one of the most difficult phones to brick, but it is tricky sometimes to unbrick from linux or a mac (running OS X).

Depending on your answer to this question, it will alter the instruction that I give you. It is still definitely doable on OS X, but I'm less familiar with it.. and it is slightly more involved.

-JP Tech

Thank you for that great explanation. I've talked to Verizon (sigh) and they seem to think my signal problems are related to a large outage we had about 2 weeks ago. Seems pretty out there, but they made a trouble ticket to see if it's related.  Some idiot severed a fiber-optic line and verizon & t-mobile had zero service for over 24 hours in a huge area here.

I've done *228 without any change. The rep did some kind of update from her end and calls have improved. Going to wait and see what happens.

I still want to learn more about using root capabilities and CWMs. Going to read up some more, but don't be surprised to see around with more questions.

Tapatalk-ing from my own little Galaxy