[opensuse] User processes disappearing while idle

OpenSuSE 11.4, KDE, Lenovo T520: while idle, almost all user processes will disappear. Only two daemons (fetchmail and search) and kde4d w/ 2 child processes remain. The screen brightens slightly on tapping a key or wiggling the mouse, but is still dark gray. I can switch to tty1. Two questions: Any way to prevent it from happening? Any way to restart the desktop environment short of rebooting? While trying to send this e-mail, the keyboard and mouse clicks stopped responding. The mouse could still move the cursor, but nothing else responded, including the 3 finger salute (reboot shortcut). TIA, Jeffrey -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org