You should always start with LW Basic to become familiar with it & if there's any issues, to get them sorted out. Then look at other options such as pro which is really a type of donation to help the LW crew continue with the development of the program.

A. See The way to fix the Blank screen on startup & see if that applies.

B. Can you give us a total desciption of your set up:
1. OS version? (eg: Windows 98)
2. What firewalls you have?
3. How much ram?
4. Hard Disk space available?
5. Connection type? (eg: dialup, broadband, cable, etc.)
6. Modem & router brand name & model numbers?
7. Where are you trying to connect from (home, school, work, etc.)?
8. What version of Limewire (LW) & Java do you have? (Go to LW's menu Help>About LW...) Will show both LW & Java version. You can also find this out from the control panel>Java.
9. Who is your isp provider (Internet Service Provider)?
10. Are you sharing the connection with other computers or p2p sharing programs? If yes, please give details of set up.
11. Do this simple test for us. Using your browser go here: http://www3.limewire.com:6346/ The page should say 'Your test worked!'. What happens when you go there?

These details are vital if you want us to find out what your problem is.

C. *** Did you configure your firewall so it allows LW full access (advisable not to have 2 active firewalls b/c they can interfere with each other); Firewall configuration instructions (click on link) Remember Windows XP has its own firewall!