Tom,
Why not have them just send an email with a specifically formatted subject, the local PC can have a VFP app that periodically polls the email inbox looking for the message and kick off the process when it finds it.
>I need to have a user 1,000 miles away kick off a VFP
>program on a local machine. I anticipate the remote
>user to use the Internet and submit a request to a
>local PC. This locall PC will then run a VFP program
>that takes about 3 hours to run. The end result should
>then be sent via email to the user.
>
>Sounds like a job for remote automation or DCOM. Never
>used either one so I could sure use some pointers. Does
>the PC that will run the VFP program need to be a server?