Please put in mind there is bugs in the O/S as well with any O/S of any style.
One is to look into Ubies bug report web site.
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs It may take some time to search through the
bug report. It not like Google. Yet, it is a good start to help solve on some
queer problems.
There is some solutions and some times it even have the geeks scratching their
heads. Please all so remember that Ubuntu is %100 free. It is not like you pay
some $200 for a O/S that has bugs here and there. Of course spending time on
getting the system to behave takes away from some personal time.
If some is running a 64 bit linux or windows kernel. They both have more bugs
than the 32 bit kernel. The good news that Linux is making more head way on 64
bit than windows.
So lets move forward... Woo weee!!!
OK Dr.Ice you say your system freezes on when GAIM and Firefox is running. What
kind of system lock up are you getting? Are the programs just stop responding or
the whole desktop stops. Like where you even tried to move your mouse or type on
the keyboard. Did you try ALT+F2 or CTRL+C and get no response? Does the system
seem fine after you hard reboot the system. A hard reboot is where you have to
hit the reset button or turn off and on the PC. When you have GAIM and FF going?
Is FF at a web site that has flash player? Do you have your web cam on when on
GAIM?
There is so many what if's and their can be a big IF. Your system has plenty of
power to run. So it could be what version kernel you are using to the ram is
being allocated to a different process.