How do I change Lydia's armorand stuff? Do I have to pickpocket her? I tried to just talk to her but all it did was give me generic dialogue. Pickpocket just resulted in her catching me...

Trade with her weapons and armor. If their stats are greater then what she is wearing, she will automatcially equip it.

If you are a thane of Whiterun and she is a follower that you can command to do stuff, there should be an option in her dialog for her to carry your burdens. If not it's glitched. I don't even know what "generic dialog" is for her, since doesn't she appear when you get her as housecarl?

That's the part I didn't know how to do... but strangely enough, as I was typing the follow-up question asking how to trade, it occured to me that I have to have her follow me. LOL. I've never told anyone to follow me so never considered what that dialogue might be. Got it figured out now. Thanks... I can't believe my character is lvl 40 and I'm still such a noob.

Read up in the manual about the command mode. This is absolutely essential for getting her out of your bedroom so you can sleep without having nightmares.

Amen to that! I plant her little butt in a chair downstairs so I can get to sleep w/o being disturbed by a stalker chick.

My Lydia is in Ebony armor and if you give her staves, she'll use them. I also just discovered I could use Heal Other on her from a bigger distance away than I thought I could. It helped her to keep fighting and it raises my Restoration skill.

When trading with her any armour/weapon that you give which is of better quality than what she is wearing (steel) she'll equip it. After she leaves your service however she'll go back to wearing her original "outfit" but will equip what you gave her again when asked to follow you. PC players can change the way followers look indefinitely by using the console.

Actually, she doesn't stay in your room when you sleep. When you wake up, you'll notice that she's coming from her own room.

If you take away the original armor using the console and they leave your service, the next time you see them they will be naked.

That's the least of her problems. My Lydia loves to stand in doors and trap me.