Question : Does Winchat actually work,  or is it a big Microsoft joke?

I've been servicing Windows PCs and Networks for five years. Every once in a while, I think, "that would be a great use for winchat". Sadly, I have never got it working. Says computer did not respond. No notice of incoming call appears on remote PC. What is the secret?????
XP pro to XP pro.
NetDDE services on.
Firewall off or on, doesn't matter.
Same subnet. Ping OK.
RDP works.

molku

Answer : Does Winchat actually work,  or is it a big Microsoft joke?

hmmm.  do you have SP2 installed?  I know you say there is no firewall running, but are you familiar with disabling ICF?

you might want to run http://www.ethereal.com on both machines and examing the packets.  I'd be more interested to see if the remote machine is getting winchat request packets and the OS is blocking it or ignoring it.  Not beling familiar with what the packets look like, you may want to run it on the requesting computer to see.

are there computers listed in the dial dialogue box? or are you typing them in?  if you are typing them in, try running "arp -a" at a command prompt.  See if you can see the MAC address of the other computer.