kde failure after update on fedora 17

[Mark Gaudry]

I maintained updates on my Fedora 17 system regularly.  About 4 updates
back most of my kde based programs stopped working.  I kept adding updates
with the hope that the problem would be solved.  It has only gotten worse.
I can no longer run apper or the updater from the notification icon.  What
have I done wrong or installed that might be causing this?  I have
installed multiple user interfaces and choose the one I use from the login
screen listings.  Could one of the others be conflicting somehow?  If so
which one is usually the worst culprit?  I'll go in with one of the more
reliable alternatives and remove the bad one(s).  Any other ideas are also
greatly appreciated.