I've noticed some bugs in my system that are starting to get on my nerve, and I dont know what to make of it.
I'm running Slackware 10 with 2.4.28
The first thing I noticed was in.identd always running as a process. I've never noticed this before on my other systems. Secondly, gaim started behaving weird. It takes longer to log in, and the buddy list doesnt get completely drawn onto the screen until about a minute and a half later. Then sometimes, scrolling down will lag the buddy list. When I switch desktops, the buddy list will become blank, as if its a hanging process (you know the kind you end up having to use xkill on). The next thing I noticed was that whenever I create a new tab in firefox, the focus does not go directly onto the address bar, and tab won't do it either. This is very minute, yet quite annoying. I upgraded gaim, but have not done so for firefox. I wonder if its a problem with my X server sometimes, as when I DO get on gaim, it doesnt accurately report my idle, because I can be doing things on the computer, and I will suddenly go idle. Nothing noticeable in .xsession-errors.
I also tried chkrootkit, in the off chance that I had been rooted, but nothing turns out as a positive.
Any ideas as to what my problem could be? Any other steps I should take to give myself/you forum viewers more information about my system?

Thanks in advance

Firefox

The webpage has the focus. Depending on the number of links on the page it should eventually get up to the address bar using <tab>

<shift> + <tab> should move in reverse to the address bar. Use <f6> if you want to not use the mouse


X can run slow if there is an error in your /etc/hosts file.

Gaim may be slowed down trying to connect. Maybe there is too much traffic on the port.

How much ram do you have free?

Ok with firefox, the way it used to be was that I would press <ctrl + T> while in firefox and it would open up a new tab for me, along with the cursor being present in the address bar for the new tab. Pressing tab once would take me to the google toolbar. Now I realized, from looking at the status bar, that the tab actually goes to the next link on the page that previously was focused (although it appears to still have focus)
I found in my hosts file, that the localhost ip was given to my hostname, which right above it, the file says not to do. I commented that line out so we'll see what a reboot does.

That's true <ctrl+t> opens a new tab with a blank page with the focus on the address bar.

So a reboot still did not solve this problem. Both gaim and firefox are still acting strangely.
I have 300 MB of ram free
I have most current stable version of both items of software
I have a valid hosts file
I still cannot get the cursor to focus on the address bar upon creating a new tab in firefox.
And gaim still takes forever to load
Should I update X? Please say no ....