I just noticed the default power setting on my Vista dev box is "Balanced" -- meaning it goes to sleep after awhile. I wonder if this is why cannot connect to remote desktop from home.

Quoted: The default "off" state is now the new Sleep power state. Just press the power button on the Start menu or on your PC, and your PC will automatically save your current session to memory, and then quickly enter into a very low power state. It will also save your session to the hard drive, so you can access it even if the memory loses power. Then, when you want to resume your computer use, just press the power button on your PC. Your PC will turn on in seconds, and be just how you left it last time.