Ok guys, it definitely Java, watched it happen last night. LW running fine, I update Java, massive slowdown, half normal download rates and 100% LW CPU usage showing on XP resource monitor. I've just "downgraded" to Java 1.42 (sorry, I've lost the link, but a quick google search for "Java 1.42" (unsurprisingly) found it), and all is running perfectly again. The lesson - never do what windows asks you to do; it's always wrong.