Try the free version 1st. If you like it & would like to go pro & support LW by doing that then do that. The differences b/w LW Basic & LW Pro are not dramatic. You won't see any difference b/w their interfaces. What you will notice is that there's no window that says update to pro when you open LW. LW Basic connects to 3 Ultrapeers (UP). LW Pro connects to 5 UP's.

LW Pro should maintain Turbo charged connection quality all the time (if you use it in a healthy way.) Whereas LW Basic is more subceptible to connection quality changes. The added strength of LW Pro's connection quality means your search results will be a little more reliable. Thus improved results.

As for speed ... it really depends on who & how many people your are downloading from. Sometimes you can get a chunk of a very fast connection or perhaps a group of people that offer a bit each that adds up. (Remember some people use dial up, some people use broadband, some cable, etc. And it depends on how much upload bandwidth they are offering divided between how many upload slots.)

Here's some LW optimising hints: A well set-up LW can start to automatically continue its dwnlding after it's settled down perhaps 2 out of 3 times you open LW. Optimising LW & Maximising Uplds & Dwnlds A (1st post only) & also Part B which is even better & last & least are search & dwnld hints. The latter one I've been thinking about re-writing for some time. That's just for playing it safe. eg- I show all speeds & qualities.

eg: http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showth...028#post116028