thank you to all so far for your replies. I did go to the windstream site and checked. the firewall option was already turned off. i think they filter certain p2p's such as limeware and other music sites. The strange thing is that we just got dsl in our area from windstream (1 wk) and other people a few miles down like my sister are able to connect to limewire..... so did they wise up and shut us! thanks again all