Ok, first off, i have just installed linux Mandrake 9.2 on my laptop which is a mircon Transport gx+. Not the greatest model known to man, but its a school computer we have to lease. The install when just fine with the exception of time it took, and i saw no issues other than a small one concerning the GUI when i first got it running. I found the solution to that one with out any problem and im using the KDE interface. My problem is this: when ever i load linux everything runs smoothly, but as soon as i load a configuration menu or any application the whole system locks and leaves me S.O.L. I dont know what is causing this low performance, nor do i have any clue on how to fix this. Any ideas?

My next question, is there any place that i can downlaod software applications for mandrake, like chat programs and games, and other misc. software that i might find useful?