I've been thinking all sorts of crazy things, because of the way LimeWire has been performing for the past month or so. Virus? SpyWare? Bad service from my ISP? Bad network card?

None of the above.

The recent poor performance is a result of changes in the software from version 1.7 on. I looked around the Internet and found version 1.6d. I downloaded and installed it, after deleting the new 1.7e version. Version 1.6d works GREAT!!! My downloads are fast like they used to be. They don't time out or crap out any more! I can download faster than 4KB/s again!

Give up on the newer versions of LimeWire and get 1.6d, which actually works!