ZoneAlarm question

This morning I tried connecting from my home computer to my work computer using the company-provided VPN software for connecting to the work network... at first it didn't work, which gave me a fright (that after all the trouble I've had trying out various Anti-virus/Anti-spyware/firewalls, that even ZoneAlarm would not suffice )
...but after adding the destination IP address to the Trusted Zone in the ZoneAlarm firewall settings, I was able to connect to the network.

Then I tried using Remote Desktop Connection to connect to my computer, and that wasn't working. Finally determined that if I use my work computer's IP #, it works, but using the machine name does not work. However, if I turn ZoneAlarm off, then I am also able to use the machine name.

Also, pinging the machine name does not work when ZoneAlarm is on, but works when it is off. Pinging other web addresses like yahoo.com works with it on or off.

Do any of you know what setting in ZoneAlarm would allow me to either connect using the machine name, or to ping my machine name in order to get the IP # ? My work machine's IP # is not constant, and I don't want to have to remember to write it down every time I leave the office.

...

Well, if I change my Internet Zone security from "High" to "Medium" AND change the custom settings for the Medium zone to NOT "Block incoming NetBIOS (ports 135, 137-9, 445)", then I can ping my machine name. But I'd rather leave the security set at High. Isn't there some other way...?

...

(Update)
Solution:

After connecting to the network with the VPN software, do "ipconfig /all" from a command prompt and note the IP #s for the network's DNS and WINS servers. Add those IP #'s to the firewall's Trusted Zone.

Hopefully those IP #s will be constant so I won't have to change them next time I want to connect.