thanx for the input . to answer ur questions

win xp pro w/ windows firewall
15gb HDD avail., w/768 mb ram
i have set the connection to T1 ( i tried cable but no difference)
linksys router and wireless card
connecting from home
java 1.5.0_01.

now i did a little research and found if limewire runs in leave mode ( which i apparently am) it will go idle if there is no activity to drop the strain on the network. or at least that is the idea. and yes im set on UPnP.
is there a way to change this setting or at least increase the time before it goes to idle.
when i switched to the monitor tab and press "show" under "incomming searches" i get this message
"your client is a leaf node shielded by an ultrapear. hence u will see few incomming searches."