I've been using LimeWire for several years now, sporadically - every few weeks. Last time I fired it up was probably 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Well, I tried tonight and it just didn't start up. Tried again and saw that it the icon would appear for a second or two, then disappear.

My first attempt to solve this was to upgrade to the latest basic version (5.5.8; I had been at 5.3). Same result.

I then did a google search and read an entry (I believe it was link to somewhere on the limewire.com site) that said it might be a problem with java - so, as instructed there, I uninstalled my java runtime software and then downloaded and re-installed it.

Same result.

I am on XP 2002 Media Center Addition with SP3. I use the free (basic) AVG security software, and it updates automatically a couple of times a week. I know that I did nothing to address anything about LimeWire, so it must have been an update that did so (??).

Anyone have any ideas about how to diagnose and fix this problem?

Thanks in advance.