I have struggled to get ktorrent to run stable. Suddenly I get a visitor that tells me that in linux world most of the applications starting with letter K is actually made to run with KDE rather then Gnome like I appearently run with a standard Linuxmint install.

I am new to linux so pls bear with me here.

1: Am I fighting a loosing battle trying to get Ktorrent to run with LinuxMint?
2: Is there I way for me to check if I actually am running Gnome rather then KDE?
(Actually even to I read wikipedia I still do not get what is the differences between them)

KTorrent will work in GNOME without problems, just won't be as integrated.

Look at LinuxMint's last three screenshots. That's GNOME (apparently default desktop for LinuxMint). If your desktop looks differently, then you're probably using either KDE or XFCE.

Thx. I am using Gnome then. but I will leave it as long as ktorrent will work.

I use Ktorrent in Ubuntu without a serious problem...

Ktorrent will work fine in GNOME. I've been using Ktorrent and other K-apps for a long time under GNOME and occasionaly in XFCE. Recently I've switched to KDE, for educational reasons (school uses it, would be nice to be familiar with it), and the only difference is the aforementioned functionality and integration. A popupmenu here, a fitting window theme there... long story short - nothing of crucial operational value.

Use away!