Are you in Europe? I don’t think they are well known there. My friend from Sweden had never seen them before he moved here.
I’m not sure what you mean.
Here’s a good writeup about some of the advantages.
yes from europe
at some point I came across heads that were deemed 'interference proofed’
in some instructions to stop amateurs…
Ah.We say “tamper proof”. No, here in Canada they are basically the standard type of screw head.
Given that the OP can’t seem to not strip every screw they come in contact with I’m not convinced that my One Weird Trick is common knowledge.
Probably important to note that the little "star"points on the pozi drive are markings on the head of the screw, NOT actual mini-blades on the driver. I was confused by that the first time I saw those diagrams…
Why would you write that in answer to me?. I bet you would be offended if, say, I was to tell you something any idiot who has used a computer would know. It would be condescending and insulting of me.
People prepared to do rough carpentry are people prepared to do shit jobs of work. They make excuses for it, but there is very little time saved using self setting screws, and considerable damage done to the work, and only lazy people do it.
Yeah @teknocholer, why the heck aren’t you drilling pilot holes in all the decking?
You said you couldn’t imagine a job where one didn’t predrill all the screw holes, so I pointed out a case. Your name implies you are in New Zealand (excuse me if I’m making a wrong assumption) and perhaps you use a different term, but rough carpentry, also called framing, is a trade, different from finish carpentry.
http://study.com/articles/What_is_Rough_Carpentry.html
“In the construction industry, rough carpentry is also referred to as framing. Rough carpenters build wooden structures that include tunnel, bridge and sewer supports, temporary frame shelters, scaffolds, concrete forms and billboard signs.” (Permanent house framing is often included in the job description.)
The term does not imply lack of skill or lack of pride in one’s work, but simply using the most efficient and appropriate methods for the job. Nails are the most commonly used fasteners, but screws have their uses, and are often driven without pilot holes.
There was no intent to insult, and I apologize for upsetting you.
Low self-esteem. 
Yep, I can corroborate this. I hate when I get US Kit that uses Philips or slot screws instead. Why you folks put up with that down south is seriously beyond be. Rise up against your slippery/strippy screwdriver oppressors!
SAE units. Philips drive. There’s so much mechanical backasswardness about the U.S. and it hurts my brain every day because I have to use these stupid standards and implementations every. day.
Okay, Philips drive, not every day. Most days–really, the vast, vast majority of days–it’s good ol’ external hex. But every time I encounter a Philips drive I begin fantasizing about stealthily replacing each and every one of them with its Torx/square drive equivalent.
ETA: And slot-head screws can just die screaming in an eternal fire. I’d sooner take a cold chisel to the head of a slot screw and never have to see it again. This wouldn’t make life easier for anyone, it would just satisfy my sense of retribution.
The moment I first laid eyes on torx was a revelation
Find a crappy phillips head screwdriver or drill bit, grind the tip off and it will grab the last remaining bit of the head of the screw since you are widening the engaging part of the bit.
Also it says here in the book that flat head screws were a mistake, are garbage, and will be one of the most embarrassing traces human beings will ever leave behind once we are gone. Hm.
Having just repaired some picket fence gates and done a whole lot of swapping between drill bits and driver bits for every fastener, I will testify as to the pants-on-fireness of this clause. I could have done the job without pilot holes, and I could have bought a second screwgun. (Alas, drilling several pilot holes in a row and then screwing several screws in a row wasn’t a practical option either.) Since I did neither, the job took me fully twice as long.
[quote=“TheGreatParis, post:8, topic:96450, full:true”]
Agreed. And just like DST, they screw up my sleep cycle.
??
What? What’s the matter?
aha. Well, I salute, with utmost sincerity, your civility, politeness and the ( exceptional ) respect you have offered me by making this a teaching opportunity. I did not know that term, and it merely remains for me to acknowledge that if I had of given its lexicographical extraction as much as a moments thought, it must have been obvious to me. More fool me then, eh?.
You internet with class, and I am suitably abashed and sorry I was rude to you in my reply.
( Carl damn it, this is a lesson I fail to learn, time and again. I must do better. )
Just a misunderstanding, @tigkiwi. We’re good. 
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