Kernel Upgrade Help needed!

[Chadley Wilson]

Hi Guys,

I am most definitly a newbie with this topic.

I have read a lot on vanilla kernels and custome kernels and 2.6 and all
that.

So I'm the dot here.
If I want to upgrade my kernel without the total distruction of my
system, and I say this because lots of people say the have never had any
trouble with it. 

When I try to compile it is always a disaster and ends up with a reload.

Since I am behind a firwall I will never get to use apt or yum or
UP2date working [I dont know why]. Never could get them working and
believe me I had many PCs in that time and all the advice from the lists
has made no impact.

What I need to know is, is there a really really easy way to to this?

Chad