John,

Posted to xp only, as aioe has forbiden crossposts to the others ...

(How peculiar! Does it just not like those 'groups, or just not like
crossposting [or to more than two]? Anyway, not this.)

Some time ago there was a crosspost sh*t-storm, origionating from AIOE. If
we're lucky here the block is only temporary.

Thanks. I'll probably stick with the proprietaries, then, as the people I
help might have difficulty with complicated procedures described over the
'phone

Its even worse : as there are quite a few differen modems there isn't a
single description which will allow you to add that port-forwarding.

Though if the initial steps could be made a batch file, that might be
possible

So no, no such luck. :-\

There is another possibility though : a reverse connection (the server
connects to the client instead of the other way around), meaning that you,
having the client, would need to do the port-forwarding on your modem

One thing though : I have no idea if either Real- or TightVNC has it, or if
there is even a single client-server combination which offers it. I think
its worth to check though.

Regards,
Rudy Wieser