Hi trap_jaw,

Thanks for the quick reply.

>"Did you ever try to install LimeWire in the default directory? If yes, what were the results? Just curious".

Actually, I didn't try to install into the default directory but when I installed the free version of Limewire it chose to install there in spite of my request to install elsewhere

And therein, I believe, lies the root of the problem.

After a few days of using the free version I decided to buy the "Pro" version. Not that the ads were bothering me (my ad blocker took care of those) but I just wanted to contribute to the cause.

I had already noticed that Limewire was reloading with default options every time I used it and figured it was one of those quirks of a "free" program that would go away in the "paid" version.

I uninstalled the free version, purchased and installed Limewire Pro, only to find the problem was still there.

As for installing in a default directory, I rarely do that with any program . . . seems they all want to install in "Programs" but I like to keep my directories a bit more organized than that.

>"If LimeWire can write the limewire.props file, it is obviously able to find it. There is no apparent reason why it should not be able to read it when starting. - You might try the latest version (2.9.4) anyway, the settings code was modified - and maybe your problem was solved"

Now here is what I think happened . . . The uninstall of the free version left traces in my registry. Why do I suspect this?

Well, even though I do some beta testing every now and then, I was gunshy of installing 2.9.4 since it is still in the "alpha" stage.
But I installed it anyway, much to my chagrin as it turned out.

The 2.9.4 installer told me I had to install the updated Microsoft Virtual Machine and then without so much as a "How do you do", opened my browser and took me to Microsoft. There I was met with "Sorry, MSVM is no longer available due to a court order". In short, MS got caught with it's hands in Sun Microsystems pants and a Judge slapped them silly. OK by me, I wasn't going to install that huge security problem on my machine anyway. (BTW, the ONLY Microsoft software on my machine is . . . ughhh . . . Win98 . . . without IE, thank you)

I ran 2.9.4 and promptly discovered that it didn't know I had paid for a previous version just a few days ago, so . . . I uninstalled it.

Out of curiosity I searched my registry for "limewire". Lo and behold, there were still references scattered all over the place. I manually deleted them and then re-installed Limewire 2.8.6 Pro.

Well son of a gun, now everything works just fine, at least so far!

I started 2.8.6 Pro, changed my options, closed the program, rebooted my machine and then restarted 2.8.6 Pro. It found my options. I'm a happy camper now.

I think the problem is caused by the notorious Windows uninstaller located in the Control Panel. Doesn't really do much but remove a few files and directories . . . and leaves the registry untouched. That's why I decided to take a look at my registry just to make sure.

Zuki