Go to the Start menu, Programs>Limewire>Uninstall & choose uninstall.

If it still doesn't work, download the "Offline" installer version from here http://www.limewire.com/english/content/download.shtml

Also, before installing, control-alt-del & open the process manager. Make sure there is no Limewire process running. If there is, force it to stop using the process manager. Then install LW.

BTW when you say you had LW for quite a while, which version were you running? If it's earlier than LW 4.4 then you will need to find the installer within the LW program folder or else, use the add/remove programs control panel. That "only" applies to versions earlier than 4.4

...and the manual and FAQ did that.

However, how shall I update if I've already paid?
Will my customer configurations be lost from
my previous install, and can that be good sometimes...
you know what I mean. I will go the fresh install method
because I like that...but heaven forbid if things I downloaded
get nuked. I expect the preferences might...

Maybe I'm a bit too old school and been doing tech support
WAY too long...but the new generation has never had
a .dll conflict installing apps nowadays that I know of. In
fact, they leave TSRs running all the time installing apps. heh.

Yodeling