Hi, I am new to linux and my system crashed yesterday. I think the window manager has gone? When I start up I can run applications but they run on the main desktop in the top left, one on top of another. The application menu bar appears on the desktop panel at the top, like on a mac.

There are some other things not working also.

I am happy to re-install but would like to keep my mail history.

I would be greatful of any help.

Kind regards,

James

It sounds like that whatever happened, your customizations may be gone, and it is using defaults.

You can move the panel to whatver side you want (like you can in Windows), and the apps seem to be running (from what you indicated), but default to the same corner.

Have you tried to move the panel (taskbar)?

Have you tried logging in as root or a different user? If the problem does not occur, it might be just some broken settings in your own home directory, if it does then somehow the WM or something it requires is broken. Perhaps in that case you could use YAST to reinstall KDE (the default desktop and wm for Suse).