Using Fedora 10 whenever there is an update or Konqueror is downloading a file it will show a small window on the bottom left-hand side of the desktop. Unfortunately it only stays visible for a small amount of time. Is there a way to have it visible longer?

At this time ( even in Trunk ) there is no option to display the time that the Operation / Notification should display for before being hidden. You may wish to ask the Plasma developers if they have any plans for this, or file a bug report / feature request at bugs.kde.org