Thank you RaaF. (Am new to forum posting so I hope this ends up in the right place - I just hit my enter key instead of submit - hope this doesn't appear twice...oh well.)

Don't know if it is possible for a drive to just crash and then work again after reinstalling an operating system. Sad day, indeed.

Ok, thank you for the tip - will do this. I notice that when I not only disconnect but also close out and restart Limewire, my connections do seem to go through faster but I never knew why. I don't have a clear grasp on how all this works, but in my opinion this is one of the better programs.

Have never heard of soulseek but will definitely try it out.

Ohmanon