I have searched the forums, and I have not found all the info. needed to be able to direct connect my windows laptop with my mac mini at home. Can someone help me figure this out step by step? Thanks.

To direct connect, both computers must have their firewalls configured correctly or else it won't work. If you see a brick wall in front of the blue world icon at the bottom of LW's interface then there's a firewall problem. Also, both computers must have available upload & downld bandwidth & slots. More here How to use Magnet Links & Direct Connect