I have very much come to the conclusion that items in the Incomplete folder when viewed in LW's Library window turn red because the related item in the Download window has been deleted or lossed its link!

One of LW's properties is to treat some files as separate downloads despite having the same name & size. So one day you can partially download a file & another day download the same file but it's treated as a different download because it's from another source. (ie: that can either mean a 2nd download file in the incomplete folder or both a separate download item in the download window & the incomplete folder.)

I had a closer look at all my 'red' items & compared them to the items in the download window & many had been deleted or another copy had been downlded already. Most items in red did not have a companion in the download window or there were 2 or more in the incomplete folder one being black & the others being in red of the same download topic. Meaning that for some reason these files in red had lost their relationship with the items in the download window. I even suspect that although the item was listed in the downld window & in the incomplete folder, it had for some reason lost its link. I found that for files that had already completed downld, there might also be other files of same name in the incomplete folder/library window.

I hope that all doesn't sound too rambly, but the point being that LW seems to lose its link with some items in the incomplete folder. So if you force resume download, it starts from zero despite maybe being as much as 99% downloaded already. Although I'm not so sure why force resume download should lose its link to the original.

I have come to my conclusions because I tried to 'force resume' items which may/may not have been listed in the downld window. I was surprised when I had multiple copies of a download in my Incomplete folder, sometimes labelled with (1) or (2) at the end of their name, & I forced resume or did a search for sources & which copy started downlding.

I do keep my search options for grouped files which 'should' in theory overcome this issue of multiple copies of a downld file. But it obviously needs much more refinement & finetuning. Perhaps Limewire engineers can try to overcome this & also stop the loss of links between items in the downld window & their counterparts in the incomplete folder!

When I first visited this forum my impression was that there were experienced experts/users who would be at hand to help anwser some of these types of questions (like they do in many other types of forums). But I haven't seen much evidence of that so far. If it's just users helping users then it's a little bit like kindergarten children teaching each other about university. Another forum I go to the panel of experts will either answer queries directly or correct what users have added in response to questions posted. If my conclusions are incorrect, I'd like somebody to point out to me what & why!!!

I still haven't fathomed out about the Preferences 'Ghost' which changes our prefs without us knowing about it. I am aware that in Limewire's earlier versions, people complained about corrupted preferences & needing to keep a backup. (I used to have a problem with my downld prefs becoming corrupted every few months & so it would forget all it's partial downloads.) Perhaps that's another area that LW's engineers can do a bit of 'Ghost-busting'!!!