[CentOS] Why is yum not liked by some?

[Dave Gutteridge]

>but as far as I can see you don't have a specific
>problem per se, just that yum is slow which has been addressed
>
Um... I guess I didn't convey the problem. Yum isn't just slow, it 
freezes my machine. It halts the system to the point where the mouse and 
keyboard are unresponsive, and the only way I can regain control of my 
system is to do a hard reset. Yum is the only program on my system which 
causes this to happen.

If I run Yum immediately after a reboot, it's usually safe. This is how 
I've managed to keep up to date.

But, if I have been using my computer for a while, and then I run Yum, 
it is just as likely as not to freeze my computer. Or, if I run Yum more 
than once, it may freeze my computer on the second, or third time.

If Yum was just slow, I wouldn't mind so much. But having to hard reset 
is a pretty big issue.

Dave