basically, whenever i host a game the connection is -1 and it shows up locked, even though i dont put in a password...its strange and annoying - it worked fine on my old XP laptop, but not on my new Vista one. i can join others game fine and my connection is excellent, so not sure why it says -1, but hey. but if it shos up locked with no password then how can anybody ever join? lolany help much appreciated :-)

The most likely cause for a -1 connection is that you connect to the internet through a router and your ports are not forwarded. This has traditionally been very frustrating to many; forwarding ports in unintuitive for most. But I recently heard there was a utility to do it for you...Robert

basically, whenever i host a game the connection is -1 and it shows up locked, even though i dont put in a password...its strange and annoying - it worked fine on my old XP laptop, but not on my new Vista one. i can join others game fine and my connection is excellent, so not sure why it says -1, but hey. but if it shos up locked with no password then how can anybody ever join? lolany help much appreciated :-)

oh right thansk,i had a look at port forwarding bu couldn;t get into my router.....at all

Well, many users including me have issues with what the program U-Torrent can be used for. But I downloaded it after a friend told me it contained a beautiful step by step help file as to how to set up a static IP addy and then provided specific instructions for almost every type of router to forward the ports.If you are having trouble finding the port forwarding utility, U-torrent's tutorial might get you there...BTW, a lot of sessions that do not require a password show up locked. Usually as soon as they are highlighted the "padlock" disappears; sometimes you get the window to enter a PW but if you just leave it blank you can get in. I would say it happens on about five percent of sessions.Robert

oh right thansk,i had a look at port forwarding bu couldn;t get into my router.....at all

Well, many users including me have issues with what the program U-Torrent can be used for. But I downloaded it after a friend told me it contained a beautiful step by step help file as to how to set up a static IP addy and then provided specific instructions for almost every type of router to forward the ports.If you are having trouble finding the port forwarding utility, U-torrent's tutorial might get you there...BTW, a lot of sessions that do not require a password show up locked. Usually as soon as they are highlighted the "padlock" disappears; sometimes you get the window to enter a PW but if you just leave it blank you can get in. I would say it happens on about five percent of sessions.Robertright ok thanks,yes i have utorrent, didn;t know about any utorrent tutorials....:S but ill see if i can find itlol, thanks :-)