Instead of getting this clearer, I think you have the wires twisted even more tightly. Let us take things to their simplest level. There are no automatic bells and whistles in Limewire. You have to do everything yourself. Although there is a Resume Button (and a hidden Force Resume) it does not work. There is no reconnect/re-search system. And leaving the machine for any length of time over one minute will not improve what you had at the end of one minute,

Step One. Search and download from the hosts in your search box. If you show up with anything other than a positive connection, highlight the original host and the failed download and kill the download and restart the download. If this fails to produce a connection, abandon that host and go on to the next one until you find a live connection.

Step Two. Management of the download. Most downloads stall so you have to be ready to go through the kill/restart download sequence every time it fails. For this purpose, you must keep the original listing under the appropriate tab in your search area. If it drops off because you do too many searches, you will not be able to restart your download. Use the manual delete (the little box with a cross in it on the tab) to manage your stored search results once you get to whatever maximum number of searches you have set in your Preferences.

You have to play Limewire like a computer game. Passively watching it will not achieve anything.