Remember: Limewire is a Java app., which means that Java has to load for LW to work. Think of it as a really lousy PC emulator requiring about 40-50 MB just to open. LW itself does not need vast amounts of memory to work. I have been arguing with people on this forum for a long time about throwing tons of memory at LW as if it were PhotoShop.

Java can become very slow to respond and sometimes not respond at all. LW usually happily goes on running under these circumstances, but you have no way of seeing what you are doing. The suggestions here should help the problem.