This isn't so much as a start up problem as an anti-startup problem. I've used limewire for years without much problem, downloading the new versions as they came along. in fact, i downloaded a couple songs earlier on today and shut down limewire as usual. i restarted it awhile ago, did my thing, and right clicked and exited it out of my system tray. Or so I thought. a minute or two later, it starts up again. and it connects. so i right click and exit again. a few minutes later, it restarts. I went to check my options, but when i go to tools>options, the options window flashes up, then disappears every single time. I right clicked and exited limewire again. a minute later, back it comes. I've restarted my computer, but it will neither stay exited nor let me view/change my options. Some of the settings seemed to have changed as well. I figured, hey it's up, might as well grab some music. I usually have my download limit set to around 30 (i have a fast connection and tend to have multiple downloads going at once) now, i can only have 10. I turned the notifications off. Now I'm getting the popups everytime a song completes. The only thing that's really a pain is not being able to change the settings. I can live with Limewire just running all the time, but I'd like to know what may be causing this problem

I just want to bump this thread up to give it some more recognition.. I'm having the exact same problem as you. I can download songs, and such, alright.. and as normal. But when I close LimeWire down, it starts itself back up again a minute or two later. If I uninstall it, an error message pops up saying I don't have the proper things installed for LW to work. Essentially, it's still starting up on its own even after I uninstall, delete and try to forget about it. What's worse, is I can't open the Options menu. It pops up and then it closes right back down again within a second of opening. It just started up, too, as last night, the last time I used LW, I was downloading things fine and then closed it down with ease.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling as well, and though I didn't have the same errors when it was uninstalled, ss soon as i redownloaded and installed it again, I began getting the problem again.

You should both download AVG Free AV. After download, make sure to update AVG & then scan your computer. There's a link for download in the thread below.
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/downlo...s-options.html

If that doesn't fix the problem, please read the thread below...there are a few other fixes to try & if you're still stuck, links to sites offering specialised help for malware issues
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/genera...s-options.html

Add 1 more person to the list with the very EXACT same problem, Limewire opens up all on its own, and I am unable to open the options page for more than a second!!!! I uninstalled the older version I was apparently running (4.12.11), and updated to latest version (4.14.12). That seems to have, for the moment, solved my error msg. problems, as well as solved my continuous LW restarting issues. One problem remains, and that is I am unable to access the options page, It opens, but still just closes in a flash.
I am now going to try Birdys suggestions with downloading the AVG Free AV thing and see how that works. I'll let you guys know how it works out.