I got finally suse 7.3 up and running ok. Most of the time anway.
When I surf around the web for a bit the RAM and swap fill up
completly.
At that point the system crashes.
OK it doesnt crash completly but it takes about 3 minutes just to
get a console up to kill mozilla.
RAM is 128 mb
Swap is also 128mb
Once I disable Java and Javascript everything is working ok.
Any ideas what could cause that problem?

most likely not the javascript but java.. java is a hog, i tend to disable it or don't go to sites that use it on the web...

THX,
but what I am concerned about is that there might be something
else screwed up with the whole installation.
Shouldnt the kernel clean out the memory at some point
before the system becomes unuseable.
I already tried to get an answer about this from Suse but all they
want to do is to sell me a "professional support package".

I've notice the same thing. I believe it is a problem. This did not happen prior to kernel 2.4. The only thing I would suggest is turning off services you don't need. Maybe recompiling kernel but that will only give you a few megs back. Now to be fair X will use up a lot of memory. Try rebooting to just console type free look at mem usuage now startx and type free again. You'll see the difference . Here what mine says

total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 513316 356028 157288 576 21636 163928
-/+ buffers/cache: 170464 342852
Swap: 401584 0 401584



I'm running Mandrake 8.1 but that will soon change.

since swap fills up completely there is no place to swap the stuff frm RAM. I guess that's why Linux hangs.
Which GUI do u use?
Did u try slimmer GUI's like XFCE,blackbox?
Try increasing swap space if possible.

HTH.

Timing.....

I have never seen this happen until today. Browsing with upto 10 tabs open, swap maxed out as did RAM.

I had to exit Gnome and log back in for the swap/memory to be freed.

I am using:-

kernel 2.2.19
Gnome 1.2
Sawfish 1.0.3
Galeon 1.1.3 (Mozilla 0.9.8)

I use KDE and normally start mozilla in a Kde sesssion. Thats all
that is running.
I did have netscape installed either but didnt use it. In Suse the
installer (Yast2) insists that you install netscape if you want to use
mozilla.
Anyway, I got rid of netscape yesterday and it has been smooth
sailing since then.