I said that before, I wouldn't install ADNM on a vista machine, nor XP for that matter, but if that's what fairlane has to work with and nothing else, then we'll try to help as best as we can.
fairlane, did you check to see if your sql server service is running and set to automatic? Any event logs on the machine that shows abnormal operation or errors?
Hopefully you don't have to give up on the ADNM, because once you get it running, it's the bee's knees. Especially if you have a bunch of machines that you want to control with it.
Woops!! I just looked at my server here and saw that I have "SERVER2\avast" in my sql server instance. I told you it was a forward slash, but I think I may have been mistaken. Let me check one of my 2008 boxes... yep. I was wrong.
Use a Backslash!!!! \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Sorry about that!
Let me know if that works (got my fingers crossed for ya)