It could be the shared issue! The other day when I started up the Win LW it took its time to load up the shared files. But once it got past a certain no., all of a sudden a a couple of downlds mysteriously continued. That might have been luck or it could have been the minimum share requirement of the person(s) with those files.

Is it possible to set your AOL so it doesn't go inactive after 'any' period of time?