Hmmnn...I'm not at all sure what's going on with the problems downloading, especially since that part of the code has not changed at all to my knowledge. Is it possible that you just got unlucky with some of your downloads, or are you continuing to have this problem?

The preferences issue is also odd. Would you mind doing a little experiment for me? Just try changing some other settings aside from the speed filter setting, and also try setting the speed filter setting to, say, T3, and then restarting. There may be an issue with that setting in particular. When you do this, are any of the settings saved the next time you start LimeWire?

Thanks.