Close or force quit the program. Then, delete the LW preferences folder whilst the program is CLOSED. Instructions: Point #3 in Fixes for Limewire (sample image included at bottom of page.) or for VISTA see http://www.gnutellaforums.com/genera...der-vista.html

After doing that, open LW again & it will ask you early on in pop up windows what you wish to share. Look very carefully! Click Remove to those areas you do not wish to share. In fact, I recommend you remove all suggested ones as I did. I added Shared folders manually after that initial process.

Yes, images seem to take the longest to load in my experience. The initial loading of very large numbers of them takes forever!

After that initial period you can add folders manually; Adding files/folders to share in LimeWire 5 (sorry instructions are a little messy ... Birdy has done a better version but not yet in public view.)