miscellaneous issues in KMail

[andy <geek_show@dsl.pipex.com>]

Hey gang

I have a few problems that are confusing and frustrating me,
using Etch, in KMail:

1. I press the enter key and after a noticeable delay the text scrolls 
down. If the return key is pressed repeatedly, I can sit back and relax 
while watching the cursor move from one row to another. Looking at 
"top", KMail consumes some 90-odd% of CPU resources!
2. I use a PS/2 mouse with a scroll wheel. The wheel is recognised, but 
again in KMail when I use it, if I have text on the clipboard it is 
pasted repetitively throughout the e-mail I am trying to write.
3. If I have a large section of text to delete, I can depress the 
"delete" key and even once I have stopped pressing the key, text 
continues to be deleted.
4. On the overall appearance of KMail, when viewing the contents of a 
directory, the appearance is alternating grey and white rows. How can I 
change this?

Thanks if anyone can give me a steer on how to fix these issues.

Cheers

/A

Are these related?