When I click on library, only the 'Incomplete' folder appears. My old shared (sucessfully downloaded songs) still show up on iTunes but not what I just downloaded.

LW says I am currently sharing 0 files, but I had 47 or so before. Where did they go? How do I find them and restore LW to its former glory?

lol Only your incomplete folder & shared folders show in LW's Library window. In order to view your dwnlds in the LW Lib window you'll need to share this folder. Go to LW's Prefs>Saving to find the name & location of tyour LW Dwnld folder, then go to Prefs>Sharing & Add this folder & press Apply. Note you will need to press the Refresh button in LW's Lib for these new files to show up.

I wonder if you accidentally pressed the Default button in LW's prefs. It's so easy to do. I've done it myself. That's why your Shared folders have disappeared. No drama, just re-add them. Also double-check your other settings to ensure they don't need changing back.

Oh I think the newest version of LW has a folder called 'Saved' in your LW Lib window which is your LW dwnld folder. That makes it easy to access it so you can just press the Explore button after selecting any file on the list.

Thank you, O Lord! actually manged to "find" my music (I think the way you described).

Now my downloads go straight to 'shared' whereas before they went to 'iTunes Music' folder. plus now they automatically inport into my iTunes and my iTunes has created a Limewire folder to receive them on top of the iTunes library.

did I cause this by my last iTunes software update from Apple?

You could be right there! I only noticed it about 6 weeks ago or so. I was surprised when I saw it.