well, i'm now convinced that it has to do with java. i have tried everything and every JRE install i can find and none of them is helping with the situation. i have turned off the firewall to see if that is the issue as well as enabled all the up2p stuff. it gets right to the point that it would open up the LW window and then does nothing. the computer clicks as to say that something should have just happened, but nothing did.