When Limewire comes up, as soon as I put in a Search term in no matter what category, Limewire just up and quits! I have upgraded to the latest version of Limewire AND Java, so what now?

TIA

Try this version of Java. Use the JRE offline installer & remove your current Java version(s) before installing this one.
Archive: Download Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 Update 11

If that doesn't help, 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 kill all of your settings within options, you'll have to go back through afterwards & reset things. If you're not sure of your settings, go through LW's tools > options & write them all down, so that you can reset things later.

Do you have any downloads waiting to resume when you start LW? If so, try this: Tip: Purge the Downloads Queue!

Wow, Birdy! You don't sound like an airhead to me. Thanks so much for the comprehensive response. I'll report back with results. Successful, I'm sure.

Good on ya, cobber!