I am running the same system (except I use McAfee) and had the same problems which I also could not fix after having tried everything. This morning I deleted all the exceptions in McAfee, and any reference to Limewire in the windows Firewall. So Limewire was completely barred from any internet access. When I started Limewire I got the Windows Firewall window telling me Limewire was not an approved program and did I wish to approve it for exception. I clicked yes (or ok), and presto - turbo charged in about 10 seconds! I've shut down Limewire completely, rebooted the computer, started it back up and she's still turbo charged! Might work for you.