Sometimes connection can be a bit slow - so you might show as not connected until your LW finds good hosts to connect to.

The network isn't what it used to be. These days, there just aren't as many users/sharers as there once were. And, unfortunately, there are still scum who are paid to sabotage the network: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/downlo...h-results.html

You'll find that results are different sometimes because the network is dynamic... as users in various time zones log on & off, files available change. So, searching at different times of day can help if you're looking for rarer files.

There are some tips for searching here: How to find music
There's a section there about using the keyword filter, with lots of info about which words & file extensions to filter for best results (ie weed out the fakes, spam & porn)

You can find a file extension filter within tools > options > search > filter file extensions.
And keyword filter within tools > options > search > keyword filter. After adding words/extensions to the filter(s), click ok on the filter page & then ok again on the main options page.

And if you still can't find what you're looking for, try changing ultrapeers (hosts that you connect to in order to search).
In LW tools > advanced tools. In the Host column, you'll see UPs that you're connected to. Check in the Time column & see which ultrapeer has been connected for the longest time.
Right click on that host > Remove. That ultrapeer will be replaced by another. Now start a new search for your file.
If you don't see any improvement in results, remove the next ultrapeer. And so on...