I am using Vista and have McAfee Firewall which allows LW full access. The small Firewall detected ikon is visible, with the wall.

When I search for anything (I'm only interested in music) the item searched for appears on a tab 'enabling information sharing' at the top of the LW window. This appears to be loadig as a blue bar gradually moves across the title. Then it stops. At the foot of the window the signs for Doiwnload and Browse Host are both greyed out.

This all look very pretty - but nothing then happens. No message, zilch. Rien.

Nothing at all appears in the main body of the window to show that any host has been contacted

Any thoughts would be most welcome...

Is your LW connected properly (all green/blue connection bars)? If LW's connected, try the fixes below.

1. In LW go tools > options > searching > basic & check whether the 'show license warning' box is ticked. If it's ticked , untick it > Apply > ok...see if that makes any difference.

2. Problems with the search

3. Delete LW's preferences folder when LW's properly closed. See point 3 here & also point 2 if you've used older versions of LW in the past (there could be a folder in either location).
Fixes for LimeWire
This will change all of your settings within LW's options, you'll have to go back through afterwards & reset things to the way you like them.
Vista users: LimeWire Pref Folder in Vista

4. Disable all options (TLS, DHT, UP capablilties) within LW's tools > options > advanced > performance.

If LW's not connected, try the fixes here.
If LW Will Not Connect
If nothing there helps, post back with your system details

Also check out this thread: Shocking, I know - but my Limewire searches are dead

Birdy you have been very kind.

I really appreciate all you have done but now I think suicide might be the only option after spending 3 hours trying ALL the suggestions recommended, one after the other. OK, that's a bad joke.

I thought I was out of the tunnel when I got to the point where a suggestion was to close LW and download Frostwire. Suddenly there was music in my life. But then, I realised to my horror that it was just that one tune and nothing more, no matter that I could download all the tunes in the world. At least I stopped it playing continuously. Then I deleted it.

I closed FW and have just attempted to reload LW. But I can't. It tells me an older version of LW is running (it's not, acc to Taskbar) so I had to abort.

Prior to this I disabled all the preferences, clicked to delete the various limewire files in hidden folders - and all the time my connection indicator stayed red. But then on Frostwire they turned blue!

So now I can't even download LW. As Woody Allan said, life is hell and then you die.

I'm beginning to think that watching paint dry must be more fun than doing all this. Failing that, its self deletion..

Ok. Let's see. If you still have the error about an older version of LW running, open Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del). If there's a LW process running, end the process. Try to install LW again & download the file from here: http://www9.limewire.com/download/LimeWireWin-full.exe

Save the file. Before you install LW, run this cleaner: Crap Cleaner

Can I just ask you - after you deleted LW's preferences folder (the folder named LimeWire), did you go through the LW setup wizard again? If you didn't have to go through that setup wizard - something went wrong & it wasn't deleted properly *eek*. If that's the case then it's worth your while trying to delete the folder again... it's so often a fix for weird problems

If you're sure that you did everything properly & still can't download a new LW, go to this thread. There's a link to download an older version of LW (post #6): Unable to run LIMEWIRE ('older version running' error)
Download that older version. If it installs without a problem then install the latest version that you downloaded earlier (it will remove the old version automatically). See how you go after that.

When you had FW up & running do you mean that only 1 file came up in your search results? If you're getting crappy searches (this is a problem for a lot of people right now), click on LW/FW's Connections tab (if you don't see a Connections tab, click on View > Show/Hide > tick Connections).

You'll see the hosts (ultrapeers) that you're connected to... right click on a host > remove. You can do that for all ultrapeers that you're connected to - they'll be replaced by new UPs. Does this help at all?

If your search results are full of spam, try this hostiles list - it might cut down on the amount of spam that you see: The TechNutopia Fullsize Hostiles List for BearShare and LimeWire

I know that this is no fun & we wish we could have one fix for everyone. It's just as frustrating for us as it is for the people with problems - we're volunteers who don't work for LW.