hi. it's been a while i havn't used LM basic. a message on the bottom kept saying "Loading" but it's been like that for the past week or so so i can't use it to download stuff. im using the new LM 5.0.11 version and i don't have any firewall turned on. please help!!

Sound like LW might be having trouble loading all the files into your library.

In LW go tools > options > My Library. How many folders in your Library??

When you went through LW's setup wizard, there was an option where you could choose which folders were added to My Library... the default folders to add are My Documents and your Desktop... if you chose to add those folders to your library & you have heaps of files in those folders, it could take ages for LW to add all of those files

Personally, I wouldn't choose to add the default folders - even if those folders aren't shared, do you really need all of their files in your library?? Just my opinion

If you want to change which folders are added to your library, see the thread below. Try removing folders from your library & see whether LW stops getting stuck 'loading'.
LimeWire 5 - Adding folders to library, sharing/unsharing files, removing folders - Windows.

when i went thru the LW setup i have to choose my own folder where i want my files to be downloaded. this hasn't happened to me before. strange....

I don't mean your download folder - I was talking about what files are in your library. These may or may not be shared, depending if you've chosen to share files in your library (by default they're not shared in LW 5)

Anyway, if files in your library aren't the issue - try updating your Java. Go here Java SE Downloads & download the JRE offline installer.
Next, remove any Java versions already installed on your computer via Add/Remove Programs or Vista's equivalent.
After that, install the Java that you just downloaded. Restart your computer.

Hopefully things will work properly now