HELP Can't synch to work laptop

[venus16]

Help
I have spent over 8 hrs trying to synch the 700 with active synch to outlook. I have a work laptop with MS2000, office 2000, and Outlook 2002. The first synch was successful after I bought it since then it loses the partnership, times out, and disconnects my internet connection through my VRAS service with work. The help desk after several hours told me I cannot sync unless I disable my firewall. Work will not allow me to do that and they do not support me using the 700 or active synch 4.0 they say it is unstable. I am using the USB connection. I cannot use the bluetooth since my MS system is not updated.

Any suggestions. I have tried to create new partnerships and I was only able to sync tasks and it locked out. Very frustrated since I cannot use the device and I do not have another computer to synch it to.