query about running system services

[D. R. Evans]

Ok, so I am being very dense (again).

This is something that was easy and fast in Mandriva, and I'm sure it
must be just as easy and fast in Kubuntu, if only I could find the
trick.

Basically, I want to control a couple of services.

I could give a lengthy list of all the obvious things (well, I think
they're the obvious things to do) that have not worked, but maybe it's
faster if I simply ask someone to walk me through what I need to do.

In short, I've tried the "System Services" under "System Settings",
but that pops up in run level 2 (which doesn't seem right; normally
I'm in run level 5, aren't I?) and then when I tell it to switch to
run level 5, I sit waiting forever while every few minutes it pops up
a dialog with a glacially-moving progress bar that says that it's
checking the status of system services. It pops up another one before
the last one has finished.

So what is the correct way to control system services in a reasonably
interactive manner Kubuntu?

(FWIW, I'm running 64-bit dapper.)