I did exactly what you said, but this works only if i log in as admin-equivalent user. If i log in with my wife's password, i see check mark near NetBridgeVu.exe, but communication fails. I don't understand why. I tried to permit traffic from local to to BBO's 9999 port, but ,,local port'' is not fix, sometimes 1033, sometimes 1055, and so on, and while i cannot permit all traffic to all incoming port -- so firewall blocks returned packets; i see this in c:\windows\pfirewall.log file. Do you play bridge from XP SP2 and non admin-privileged user? I may give admin rights to my wife -- but I teach at a secondary school, and pupils like to play bridge -- but all pupils with admin rights? It is impossible imho. :) Thx for your help. Tom