a wk or 2 ago I was having probs searching and downloading so came looking for answers -- seemed to be a common prob ... no returns on searches. I, too, thought it was a firewall thing, but after adjusting, readjusting, reconfiguring and finally totally disabling my anti-virus, I uninstalled and reinstalled LimeWire; it's been working fine ever since. Give it a try. Sometimes "we" tend to overlook the obvious and the easiest answer.

I dunno! Worked for me!
clipmgr