Troubleshooting Run Time Crashes

What is the best way to troubleshoot run-time crashes? Do the packages have to be built a certain way? I've read about backtraces, core dumps, and using gdb. I'm no programmer, so what is the best way for me to troublesoot? In particular, I am running KDE 3.5.10, recompiled for Slackware 13.1. KMail always now crashes whenever I try to do anything with the composer window (save as draft, send, etc.). Boom. Just disappears. Almost as if I had started KMail with the --compose option. The app disappears and I have to restart KMail. The funny thing is the message gets stored in the Outbox. I want to troubleshoot in case this bug carries over to Trinity. Thanks. Darrell