Mine often is too. I tried to answer your first question as I could. I made suggestions for your second question.

Keep in mind a certain amount of search results will most likely be junk/fake files, etc.

I try to browse hosts wherever possible. I may also search something similar to what I'm downloading in order to find more hosts that 'might' just have the same files (indirectly finding more hosts .. one person to another to another linking via browsing). Thing is, LW cannot search the entire gnutella network. So working your way around it bit by bit by catching onto others that may not show up in searches does have its constructive effects for downloading. Hook all those ideas up & they are effective. (also keep in mind LW favours finding other LW hosts, not so many other gnutella clients. That's one reason I like using Phex because it doesn't unnecessarily discriminate against other gnutella client programs.)

Other than that, not sure perhaps it's related to your settings or your isp.