blimey....
well, i've been down the vnc route with the in-laws pc for the last month, and it just will NOT connect, but i can log straight into my mums xp pc with no probs at all, albeit that it has to run in 256 color mode, but thats a small price to pay to be able to SHOW her how to do something, rather than explain it in slo-mo!!
just to re-cap with the logmein thing... i have set up an account for her dad, he then logs in and adds his pc, then i log into the logmein site from my mac, and i can see his pc, i click the remote and it all goes to hell.
is there any new clue in that last paragraph i may have missed earlier??