I did a quick search for the error you listed and found the following. You might want to see if the information provided on the following page can help you.
You receive run-time error 429 when you automate Office applications
The first things that came to mind aftrer reading the thread was, what connection spead are you using when you remote connect... When you use remote connect go to options, and select the experience tab, there are soem settings there that you can play with that may help out. The second thing I was wondering was are you connecting througa firewall using VPN? Since you can see and do everything from the office with the Vista laptop, I'm thinking that it is because you are directly connected to the netwrok, howeverfrom hme what are you ding to connect to this network...
Hope some of this can help or at least point you I the right direction.
Curly.