>I'm running out of options. All I want to do is have control of my desktop PC from my laptop via my network. I keep getting "account restrictions" even though I've done everything I think I was supposed to using MMC. This seems like such a pain, but maybe that's the point; anyone bad trying to get in simply gives up. Is that the newest Windows security level? Any help appreciated... Thanks!

Check out http://www.LogMeIn.com - they have a free version. No firewall issues, and you can control that desktop from any computer that has a connection to the internet, assuming that your desktop also has an always-on connection to the interent.

My experience is that this service works very well and is quite reliable.

HTH,