Comment 2 for bug 374347

What you have is onboard graphics which use just enough CPU to perform the basic computing needs. It takes some of the load off of the CPU. Now it sounds like you have a new install if this hasn't made you wanna thro out your comp. There is two ways to fix this depending on your needs

A) keep the onboard graphics since you only use it for low resolution Apps like OpenOffice or crusing the internet. To fix this to make it bearable goto System >Preferences> Appearance and on the last tab marked Visual Effects click none. This should get rid of all the special effects. The glitches were effects the apps do when opening and closing and since you have onboard graphics it couldn't handle it so the CPU had to take over the load.

B) Get you a good Nvidia or ATI card with at least 128MB (64MB will give better graphics and maybe 3d rendering but not much more) and 270 Mhz clock speed. this will take a huge load off the processor. I highly recommend a card with at least 256MB, but hell I used an old Nvidia card with 8MB and it still smoked the onboard graphics. Make sure that you know wheter you PCI, AGP, or PCI express.

If after trying one or both (I recommend just getting the video card; cheap; easy to install; and they don't follow Moores law anymore thank God!) you still have choppy effects, system RAM would most likely be the issue. Of course make sure that in Software Sources you have all the boxes checked (except CDROM with Ubuntu)
Third party software should all be enabled and under Updates enable them. After that double check everything and close Software Sources. It will ask to reload, click it, it will gray out and disappear. Do a software update, reboot, and should be golden. I recommend doing the updates first.