openSuSe 11.1

Hi to everybody,
I’m used to openSuse since 8.2 and I’m an average user. New computer since 11.0, no problem. Dell Dimension 9200, Intel Double core.
New installation with 11.1, problems start…
Grub… fortunately, a friend of mine help me with that and now it recognize Windows and Linux… Thanks.
Used to run Kde… Now it is very sloppy. Doesn’t recognise CD-ROM and CD-RW drives. No cube. VlC doesn’t play Radio-Canada. Have to struggle to look at a DVD. All these apps were perfect on version 11.0. What happens?
Switch to Gnome. A lot better. At least, CD-ROM and CD-RW are running. VLC is improving but slowly. Cube is running not like I would like, but running.
Really IMHO, version 11.1 is a mess!