Pidgin getting stuck

Since I have switched to using Linux full time, I have been using Pidgin a lot since I chat a lot. Although it is in very primitive stages compared to Yahoo or MSN, it still did the job.
Lately I have been having this problem of Pidgin getting stuck while I chat! It is really annoying as typing on the chat window is also getting stuck. When it happens I have to reboot and go in to Windows in y dual boot system every time, to continue the chat!
Pidgin used to work ok earlier, I started experiencing this problem recently. My contacts are using lot of animated emoticons. I wonder whether that is the problem although it should not matter really.

Any help in this is very welcome...

I had a problem with Pidgin starting and basically just sit in the processes. Never came up or anything. Maybe these new releases are just really buggy. I have to reboot everytime it does this in order to get it to come up.

I had similar problems at one point, disable any and all plug-ins you are using, and reinstall Pidgin.