error message "remote assistance connection fails.......ho..

Help! I am a novice. I have read all the posts on this subject and tried the
email approach using notepad and my IP. the ip address in my email did not
have all the lines shown in the memo (no ip address). Someone has connected
remotely to my computer, but I cannot connect to my friend. I use XP Pro and
he uses XP Home.

Please provide simple step by step assistance. I don't know the words like
same domain, private subnet microsoft.net etc.

I have spent days trying to do this and I am so frustrated. Thank you in
advance for your assistance.