Any ideas what programs would be good? I'm kinda clueless in this area, but I tried a program called Girder. I couldn't make it work...

oh well, any other suggestions?

What kind of a remote is it? Your generic TV remote does not talk the computer infrared protocol and you'd need a special dongle to make it work. The special computer remotes you can buy come with their own software.

It's a remote that came with a DVR card I got for my desktop a while back.

And shouldn't any IR remote work with a computer with an IR port? I mean, I KNOW my computer recieves the signals because Girder tells me that it recieved IR signals.

I would assume that any IR remote would work, you'd just need to configure the PC to listen for the right commands.

I just want a simpler program.

In that case, any cable plugged into your computer's USB port should "work" too, including 220V mains and such

Since the remote was for computer use originally, then it may be using the IrDA protocol already and yes, your computer's IR port can make sense of it. I don't know of any good (free) programs for Windows. LIRC is the thing Linux people use.

Hmm.... I run Linux and WinXP on my desktop, don't think I'll do that on my laptop though. I guess I'll just google it some more.

Hmmm, the Girder manual seems to say that there are two ways an IR remote can be used. The first is what you said, it sends IrDA commands recognized by the computer.

The second way is supposed to work with just about any remote. You use an application like Girder (Or another I heard about called uICE) to assign a different action to each signal it sends out. I.E. when I press power I want it to start VLC or Winamp or something.

I could be totally misreading it though. This is an area completely alien to me.

Anyway, off to try uICE.

Okay, sorry for the triple-post.

So yeah, it would seem you were right. The uICE FAQ is written in layman terms, wheras the Girger manual was translated from German or something. It explains that IrDA and most remotes operate on different frequencies and such, so the IrDA port won't be able to listen for those signals.

The only thing that confuses me is the fact the Girder could SEE the signals, but I couldn't assign them to anything...

Yep, so oh well. I've got $110 store credit at Frys, maybe I'll go find something there. Thanks for all your help.