I'm talking Windows XP here. I have used remote control comms from before the Internet in different environments - but I have never used these standard MS tools. This week, I tested them between mine and my wife's laptops - and apart from a problem when going to a higher resolution, all was reasonable. I have most recently used Terminal Services under Windows 2000 - so even have some familiarity with the basic concept of MS version of remote control.

Today I had a thought - my wife's at home and I'm at work - so I tried again. I thought there might be a problem - and there is. I get the following message.

A Remote Assistance connection could not be established because the DNS name of the remote computer could not be resolved.

Now thinking back I seem to remember that the documentation says I need to be connected to a network with a domain - but of course our laptops are set up as standalone machines, just using peer to peer networking. Naturally this particular info I recall has gone walkabout - but we don't have DNS enabled.

Also I should say I don't have any of MS XP's standard security features installed. I use the router firewall - plus ZoneAlarm. I use AVG for virus protection, plus Spybot.

None of this would be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that it would be useful to be able to connect to other machines and see the specific issues they are struggling with. These are not technical computer / MS issues - just programs like QuickBooks and MYOB and others that I could resolve problems with without having to go on-site.

So does anyone have any suggestions as to what is going on? Have I forgotten something? Is the fact that I don't have the MS first option of MS Messenger installed a potential problem?

Thanks