How to disable Akonadi?

How can I disable Akonadi from starting when kmail starts?  Every time 
kmail starts, Akonadi displays an error message about failing self-test. 
  I can save the message (see attached) but when I click on the messages 
close button, it crashes kmail.

If I just move the error window to the side I can read and download 
emails but if I try to compose a new email it freezes after about 30 
seconds.  This erratic behavior occurred after I reloaded opensuse 
11.3-M3 for the second time.  Not sure what I did different from the 
previous installs.  Will try to reload again tommorrow.

Don't know if there's any connection but when I installed Thunderbird 
and tried to compose a message, it also crashed but not when just reading.

I realize this is running under a milestone OS version and will try to 
figure where the problem exists and report anything unusual.

In the meantime I'm stuck using T-bird under windoze7 (sigh).
-- 
Thanks, Tom (retired penguin)
openSuSE 11.3-M3, kde 4.4.0
FF 3.6.0