@bradbamford Okay.. I wasn't entirely sure if I had it there or not before so thanks, at least I know it's not missing now. I do use it to connect to my desktop computer from outside of my home network which is why the port forwarding is setup. I didn't try turning the windows firewall off but i'll give that a go and see what happens.
@azcruz I did check that the allow remove connections is checked, and I tried with the 2nd option for authorized users on and off. as well as making sure my user name was added in the list there.
I went to whatismyipaddress.com to make sure I was connecting with the correct IP. Maybe i'll try rebooting the machine, see if that works.. ya never know.
Also, since it seems I never posted the actual error message (though im sure you could all guess it as the standard "doesn't work" one):
The client could not connect to the remote computer. Remote connections might not be enabled or the computer might be too busy to accept new connections. It is also possible that network problems are preventing your connection. Please try your connection again later. If the problem continues to occur, contact your administrator.
Thanks all for the help.. I'll try it out and get back to you all in a few here.