cantab

MalwareBytes makes a good "second opinion" scanner. Spybot Search and Destroy is good for things like adware and spyware that aren't technically viruses but are bleeding annoying anyway, though it's paranoid and flags up things like cookies that are no real threat. If you think you actually have a virus, I recommend a bootable antivirus CD for scanning and removal. That way Windows never starts so the virus doesn't get the chance to run and cloak itself. Kaspersky Rescue Disc is my usual choice for that. Microsoft Security Essentials, by the way, flopped in antivirus tests in recent years. I no longer recommend it. Try AVG, Avast!, or Panda.

I'm assuming Windows Vista, 7 , or 8 here. Right-click My Computer and choose Manage. Check in Device Management for graphics adapters. If it says "Generic VGA" or similar you need to update your graphics drivers, either let Windows find better drivers or go on your laptop manufacturer's website. KSP isn't very demanding graphically but it does need at least some hardware 3d acceleration. If you're on Linux get the proprietary AMD graphics drivers. If that's not the issue, put a ship on the launchpad and see what the FPS is like. Then move the camera so you're looking up. If the FPS improves you have the infamous "water lag", and there are specific config file changes that can help this.

VLC can do it. I'm not sure it's a great option, it's a bit fiddly and might not be the most CPU-efficient, but it does work.

Skinheads?

This is what's useful to the OP I feel. When the lag becomes noticeable, when it becomes objectionable, are what matters to player enjoyment. Indeed the relation between PC spec and "part limit", while of interest in itself, isn't important for the OP's situation. All they need to know is right, they've got a 500-part ship, roughly what percentage of players are going to enjoy using it without game performance issues, and from that is it worth trying to reduce the part count.

Flew a Kerbal to the top of one of Pol's mountains. Then threw them down it. Hit top speeds of just over 20 m/s. And survived, by the way.

Just as long as it's not accomplished by 990 of those parts being physicsless...

True, buuuuuut, in something like the LHC what percentage of the particles in the beams actually collide?

Not something I ever really got into. I was (and still kindof am) more of a lego kid.

When I was checking Helsinki I noticed there were weeks with loads of passes and weeks with none, so maybe it's the same for you. Also I have had "daylight" passes that were plainly visible in the evening sky, so don't discount them.

I generally stick both in the action group, just to make sure.

Misoriented controlling part is the usual suspect there. If you're doing something like putting a small probe core on a cuboct strut on the side of a fuel tank, it's easy to get that probe core facing the wrong way. Or if you have radial docking ports for some reason you might be controlling from one of them.

Most spacecraft parts grip OK. It's the kerbals that really like to slide around, presumably the game represents them somewhat differently. And the wheels are iffy, IIRC it's what Unity provides in stock.

Bump? Bumpers even?

The ISS has an inclination of 51.6 degrees.That said you should still get passes. Heavens Above gives passes for Helsinki, which is even further north, and it gets to about 20 degrees altitude at best.

Neither, it's an exponential decay. While Earth's atmosphere has complicated details, I'm pretty sure that on a gross level it also exponentially decays.

I am still playing .23.5.

Danny did this no mods required with his thing that clawed kerbals.

Really wish I could change answers after poll voting. I hit 200-300, but actually that may be optimistic. My PC is pretty feeble. Then again it depends whether you mean lag as in the physics time ratio goes much below 1, or lag as in the framerate drops so much the motion visibly stutters. The latter takes more parts than the former. Running at about half speed became pretty much the norm for me. I have run much higher part counts, up to 1500, but only when I really really want to. It's a fair point. Personally on Linux the only way I know to check framerate is with a mod, which I'm always paranoid is actually affecting the rate.I also believe that variation in frame timing is more significant than absolute framerate. Your milage may very but I'd expect a locked, rock steady 30 fps would be nicer than something wobbling all the time between 40 and 60. Mind you even a steady 30 is the stuff of dreams for me in KSP.

If all else fails, there's always the prosaic approach of a really big drill

Pol here as well, though sans dust clouds for me. The place is basically mountains and hills everywhere, I aimed for a "flat" area and it was still pretty steep. Gotta get the second Kerbal down for carrying rocks, and then it'll be back home to Kerbin for the conclusion of my most epic mission. Although maybe I should flyby Dres on the way?

Looks pretty good. I've been sceptical about the mesh-fronted cases, but that looks better in your "real" pic than in the promotional pics. On the graphics card, would taking the HDD bays out help? And wot no SSD?

For getting the screenshot at just the right moment, this oldie has to take it

I can see four ways to do this: An object that doesn't interact with normal matter much can fly straight through with no impact to object or Earth. Neutrinos, dark matter, micro black holes, etc. An object that's travelling blazing fast can punch through but will heavily damage the object and potentially the Earth. xkcd's near-light-speed diamond. An object that's much denser than the Earth will pass through like a thrown rock in air, with little damage to the object but potential damage to the Earth. Neutron star stuff would fit the bill here, as might a planetary mass black hole. An object could quantum tunnel from one side of the Earth to the other, with no impact to object or Earth. Maybe anything stupidly cold could do this?

On Broax's idea given at the top of the page, my reservation is that it might just feel like having to jump through hoops. It doesn't really add new capabilities, rather puts finicky requirements on old ones. Things like not being able to fix a flat tyre because you haven't brought an "engineer" along could get annoying. I still think the best use of Kerbal Experience would be flight assistance. That's something the stock game currently lacks and one of the most popular mods (Mechjeb) provides, and connecting it to the kerbals themselves would be a different spin on it compared to Mechjeb. It might even extend to probes by the game requiring you to assign a Kerbal to "Mission Control" for your probe cores. As for Kerbal stats, I think it would be good if different things benefited from different stats, rather than it ending up that one stat combo is the best at everything.