Quote Originally Posted by cyKeMatica
well, i know the links aren't stale, because the programs start sometimes. and usually when it won't start (i get the busy mouse icon, and then it goes away, but no program) it will pop up later. which is wierd. it's just taking super long for it. but not all the time. usually the first time i open a program, it's fine. but every time after that, it takes forever, or i just get frustrated because everything siezes on me and reboot.
Please do as Stephen suggests and launch these applications from a terminal so that you may get some idea of what's going on. Also, open up another terminal and type top to see what's going on w/ your system. If your system is freezing it is likely due to a cpu overload.

Nice howto for the modem.