I am not sure , but if you mean by "allow 2 shared files" that under Limewire/Preferences/Options/Sharing/Shared folders that you are only sharing two files with others, then it may mean people you are trying to connect to are not allowing it because they have their settings set for P2P users who share more files. (Limewire/Preferences/Options/Advanced/Preferencing/Files You Must Share Not To Be A Freeloader and Allow Freeloaders) I notice that in my queue a lot of people queue up for something, but when their turn comes for the upload slot, if they are not sharing (sometimes I allow freeloaders; others not), they may not the file they are requesting. If that is not what you meant, never mind!

There are times I am attempting to spread a file out there; my hard drive space is very tight, and I have a lot of big files I am trying hard to spread so I can burn them onto CD and move on! For me it does no good to spread them to people who aren't going to share in return. Sometimes I let everyone have a file with no stipulations, as I realize some people are new and do not realize that their Upload and Download speeds and connections do not interfere with each other.

None of the below may help you reach that guy who is continually busy, but in case any of the below helps ... here it is. Maybe more information than you need!

Other things you can do to ensure a more successful download experience:

I enable Preferences/Upload/Basic/Partial Files/Allow Partial Sharing. I feel it is only fair, since if I am downloading from 5 hosts at once, it is 99% likely because they have enabled partial file sharing. Partial File Sharing is the P2P equivalent of BitTorrent's "swarming" and everyone benefits and gets the file faster. Some people don't share partials because they want to verify the file works first; I have a different method. When I finish a download, I can check the file and verify it, and if necessary report it to Bitzi.com if it isn't working. (Actually, because Bitzi.com doesn't have a Mac OS X client - except through Terminal which I don't use -- I can't report through Bitzi unless someone else has already reported it; I can add comments and rate the file, though.) I also share completed downloads. Limewire/Preferences/Options/Sharing/Download Sharing enable/check "Share Finished Downloads"

Other things that may help your downloads (I find uploads and downloads are related; it is more likely you can see them if they can see you) which you may have already done are to

(1) make sure that under the Monitor tab that "Show Incoming Searches" is enabled/checked. The default is "Show Last 32 Searches" which I generally change to 1 which seems to speed up my system a bit. I wish Limewire would make this incoming Search a default setting so when one turns on Limewire one can automatically enable it. Until Show Incoming Searches is enabled, I seem to be invisible to anyone on P2P. (This may not be the case but it appears so.)

(2) Make sure you have configured your IP address and port to show up under Push requests. Limewire/Preferences/Options/Advanced/Firewalls (search this forum for "firewall")

(3) Keeping Chat enabled makes it easier for people to search me, though sometimes they cannot for unknown reasons, and sometimes I am able to browse myself and other times I cannot; again for unknown reasons (even when I disable my firewall and am not connected to my router, I am not always able to browse myself). But Chat enabled seems to make it more likely (though not always) for someone to get through. Limewire/Preferences/Options/Chat/Enable Chat There seems to be a direct correlation that the easier I am to search, the better my connection is with other users.

(4) Under Limewire/Preferences/Options/Bug Reports, I had to set mine to "Always Discard All Bug Reports" before mine would operate properly under OS X (I do have the correct Java version). Otherwise I was getting a lot of crashes.

(5) Sometimes I have problems with the Limewire OS X skin; it appears to have bugs in it. You can verify this by changing to another skin or two, then changing back to the OS X skin; it will probably have retained some color and aspects of at least one of the previous skins you tried. Changing skins sometimes leaves my OS X skin unreadable; at other times it appears to make it more stable and less prone to crashes; so I don't know if there is any relation.

(6) If you are asking for a very large number of files from the same host (more than three, I'd say), be careful; they are liable to block you as being greedy. I had one person attempt to upload about 50 music files. I don't care as I have it set so that each person can upload 1,000 files if they want. But for reasons unknown, for this person Limewire was allocating four of my eight Upload Slots to this person; and they filled up about 6 of my 10 Queue Slots! If each person only fills up one slot, that is fine and normally the way Limewire works. However, whether it was a Limewire bug or just a fluke, one person was taking up multiple Upload Slots so I killed their upload. With some hosts, you may find even if you are taking up only one upload slot, they don't want you uploading too many files; so maybe just try a few first.

For speed/performance issues with Limewire, you may want to check Preferences/Options/Downloads/Download Bandwidth and make sure it is set to something other than Unlimited that is within your test range (there are sites to test your Download/Upload speed; try here http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ (note that before taking that test, make sure Limewire's Upload and Download speeds are set to Unlimited, or your results will be inaccurate and throttled! or do a search in this forum and it will bring up results; sorry I have forgotten links!). Likewise you can ensure that your Upload speed is also within your range under Preferences/Options/Basic/Upload Bandwidth. I do not throttle these very much; I try to set them to what my computer states it can handle for bandwidth. If I am sleeping and not using any other apps, often I will set both to "unlimited." If I am awake and using the computer, I will set both to unlimited unless I notice a slowdown; then I might tweak the settings a bit.

Some people do not realize that their Downloads do not interfere at all with their Uploads; so if they are trying to download a file they will throttle Uploads to almost nil. This is entirely unhelpful to everyone on the network as those are two completely different pathways coming out of your computer that have nothing to do with each other; like the north and south lanes of traffic where the flow of each has nothing to do with the other. I use this test http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ and set each to results within that test.

Regarding Limewire fragging your hard drive under Mac OS X, if you are using one "Shared" folder to hold files you have recently downloaded that you are sharing with others, even if you are placing the files in multiple places later, I wonder what answer Apple would have to this question: what difference is this from when you introduce new music into your iTunes folders, or introduce digital photos, or any other type of file onto your hard drive? In other words, if one wanted to make that argument, anytime you add a file to your computer, even new email, you are adding clutter to your hard drive. I believe at the Apple store they usually reinstall the OS every night. Naturally their computers run as though "brand new" as a result. I am not sure; but I believe there may be some utility programs available that allow for a defrag of a Mac OS X drive, though that may be best addressed on Apple forums. However I don't think Limewire using a Shared folder is going to frag up your hard drive any more than normal. Nor do I think deleting Incompletes would slow your computer anymore than your emptying your Trash periodically. The slowdown you experience is more likely related to download/upload issues. You could also try disabling Ultrapeer to increase your computer's speed. Limewire/Preferences/Speed/Disable Ultrapeer Capabilities

Good luck! I hope you are able to improve your download experience.

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Currently sticking with an older version of Limewire Pro 4.8.1, which has proven more stable

PowerMac G4 933 with ISP Brighthouse/Roadrunner broadband 15/2 connection running Mac OS X 10.2.8

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Details of my computer (firewall, RAM, hard disk), network set-up, country, and all can be found here: http://limewiresettings.jottit.com/