I've found that the silliest desktop problems are usually the hardest to solve, and the "serious" linux system errors are the easiest.

System doesn't boot? Look at error message, boot from a rescue disk, mount root filesystem and fix what you did wrong.

Wrong mouse cursor theme in some Plasma applications, ignoring your settings? Some weird font rendering issue? Bang your head against a wall exploring various dotfiles and rc files in your home directory for two weeks, and eventually give up and nuke your profile and reconfigure your whole desktop from scratch.