ive been using limewire pro 4.12.3 for a few months now + havent had any problems, UNTIL NOW...when i download on say, a video, it only manages about 5 kbs. it used to be able to handle about 10 downloads at, roughly 500kbs.....now im lucky if i can download 5 things at a total of 100kbs!!! sometimes i get a message saying my connection has been lost + when i go to file>connect it takes AGES!! can someone tell me whats gone wrong? ive checked my firewall settings + they are fine...thank you

Download a file from here & see what speeds you get
http://www.magnetmix.com/video.shtml

You said your firewall settings are fine but do you see the firewall icon (brick wall)?

You could try deleting LW's preferences folder when LW's closed. See points 2 & 3 here
Fixes for LimeWire
Doing this will kill your settings within Options, you'll have to go back through & reset things afterwards