Well, I'm stumped

Which OS are you using? Are you the only user of your computer?

When you re-downloaded LW, did you use this link rather than LW's download page: http://www9.limewire.com/download/LimeWireWin-full.exe

If you set up a new user account on your computer, does the same thing happen when installing to that account?

Try this version of LW. It's an older version of mine. I don't know why that should make any difference, but it won't hurt to try LW basic 4.16.0.exe