LW 4.8.1 did not have the firewall icon option. Nor did it have auto-setting the firewall options. The way to check for a firewall in that version is: 1. Do this test: Bug Report instructions & sample image Is the result True/False?

2. Also do this simple test for us: Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say 'Your test worked!'. What happens when you go there?

* the issue I see is your Linksys wrt54g. It was the "lemon" of Linksys devices. Normally their devices are very good but any of their models (particularly this one) with 54 in the model name has firmware problems & is unreliable. Best answer is port forwarding with it, else manually fixing the firmware. (For port forwarding see section 3 of next link, for firmware fixing see Linksys listing in section2) Connection problems? Check here first! (click on link)

* Make sure you configured your Vista firewall to allow LW full access; Firewall configuration instructions (click on link)