Vista - Remote Assistance not working

After a huge virus and spyware issue, my last option was to use Remote
Assistance.

No luck.

When I accessed it, I was told I didn't have the latest version of Windows
Live Messenger. However, I have 2008. Plus the website I'm sent to via that
message, is the same one I used to download the 2008 version.

So I'm being sent in circles. Perhaps there's already an update for the 2008
version I'm unaware of?? If so, does anyone know the link?

I also tried looking at the tool bar for WLM, in search of a "Check For
Updates" option. Didn't find anything.

When I click Start > Help & Support and then select the option to invite a
friend to help me via RA, Help & Support tells me that I don't have Windows
Messenger installed. It even tells me this while I'm logged in.

Any advice?

I had a similar problem after loading new firmware on my router. After a
lot of digging I found that the UPnP protocol had been turned off by the
router reconfiguration. As I understand it, Remote Assistance relies on
UPnP for port forwarding and can't get through the router without it. I
don't know if that's your problem but if you're behind a router it's worth
looking into. Be aware however that recent advisories have reported new
security risks involved with having UPnP enabled.

"jab87red" <jab87red@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6C78B2EB-71FF-4E3B-9B75-E0BC5281F737@xxxxxx

Hello jab87red, Windows Messenger is not the same program as Windows
Live Messenger. Perhaps you don't have Windows Messenger installed?
Windows Messenger is needed for certain functions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Messenger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_live_messenger


jab87red wrote:

And here's another possibility. This just happened to me for the first time
a few hours ago. For the first time, someone invited me to a video call on
live messenger while I was using my recently installed high resolution film
scanner. The scanner is on the same USB hub as the web cam and it's a real
pig due to the very large amounts of data it transmits. My correspondent
got messages similar to those you reported until I turned off the scanner.
Then the call went through. Conclusion: turn off any other USB devices
that might be interfering with the operation of your web cam.

"jab87red" <jab87red@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6C78B2EB-71FF-4E3B-9B75-E0BC5281F737@xxxxxx

Greetings,

The problem, as Oscar already said, is that you need Windows Messenger installed to use
Remote Assistance in Windows Live Messenger (in XP anyway).

The error message you're receiving is -wrong-, as is the link you're getting. It's been
bugged before and one day might be fixed.

So, what you need to do is download Windows Messenger from here:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/detai...f-9157a3b3d774

After this is installed, you can then use Remote Assistance in Windows Live Messenger.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--


"jab87red" <jab87red@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6C78B2EB-71FF-4E3B-9B75-E0BC5281F737@xxxxxx

Configuring my modem doesn't seem to be an option, because according to my
phone company, my modem has no interface and it gets the IP address directly
from the line.

This is why when I typed in the 192.168.... I had no success in accessing it.

I also downloaded Windows Messenger version 5.1 and this oldschool program
actually helped me get even further.

With 5.1 I was actually able to send an invite for RA to a friend.
Unfortunately his computer said the "Remote host name could not be resolved".

And other posts suggest configuring the modem to forward port 3389 requests.
But if I can't access my modem, what option is there?

Advice?

"jab87red" wrote:

Hi,

Forwarding 3389 won't do anything I'm afraid -- Messenger uses a random external port which
is forwarded to the internal port 3389.

"Remote host name could not be resolved" is just the generic message for not being able to
connect to you. It sounds like your modem acts as some type of router/NAT and if it does,
unless it supports Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), this won't work.

You might try another solution for this, like Microsoft SharedView which should get around a
lot of these problems:
http://microsoft.com/downloads/detai...6-6d440fe9522b

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2008 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--




"jab87red" <jab87red@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7E2216FF-C592-45E9-A030-051D1A9F8913@xxxxxx