Windows XP Messenger LIve Remote Assistance and Verizon firewall question

[DavidD4]

Hello all;

My Mom is a Verizon FIOS Internet customer (I'm not) and I'm attempting to help her diagnose unrelated computer issues from afar via Windows XP Live Messenger Remote Assistance.  We have been using Messenger to communicate via IM and Video calls but this is our first attempt using Remote Assistance. If I click on "request remote assistance" we are successful in that my mom can see my desktop etc I do however, have to allow the traffic through my local software firewall (I am prompted as to whether or not I want to allow the traffic). But when my Mom clicks on "request remote assistance"and I accept the invitation it eventually fails and I see a message indicating that "The DNS name of the remote computer could not be resolved". Google searches seem to indicate that this could be due to a firewall on her end. I had her turn off the Windows firewall but still no luck. She has the Verizon Internet Software Suite Installed and I also presume that there is a firewall in the verizon router (I have no idea what make/model it is). If the Verizon Internet Software Suite is blocking  the traffic can it be configured to prompt her as to whether to allow the traffic or not? Are there screen shots of the Verizon Internet Security Suite user interface online somewhere so that I could at least have half a chance of walking my Mom through looking at firewall logs or temporarily turning it off to see if it is indeed the problem?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions.

David

Ester, Alaska

[spacedebris]

Could be. Easy way to tell is have her right click the Verizon Security icon in the task bar (near the time) and select exit (or shutdown), this will turn it off and try again. If it works, you can turn it back on when done. If not, turn it back on anyway and look for something else. It also could be the firewall in the router. You may want to try turning it off too.

[nXt1]

Go to logmein.com sign up for a LogMeIn Free account.

Give your mom your username (email) and password and walk her through adding her computer to LogMeIn Free. (You might want to add your on PC, just to be familiar with it)

Now, whenever she's online, you can remote desktop into her in less than 10 seconds.

No DNS issues, No IP issues, No firewall issues.

It just works and it's totally free.