teviot
Your original question has been answered it's just you don't like the answer !
Keep in mind there are very serious security issues with allowing server manager and user manager access openly from anywhere on the Internet and that is why such access is not allowed.
VPN is a very valid way to achieve what you want, it requires no additional software as all current Windows have a VPN client that just needs to be configured. It takes me about 15 seconds to establish a VPN connection. Then you browse to the user manager via IP URL.
> Earlier versions allow the access I'm describing
Which earlier version was that and of what contrib or function ?
I was never aware that user manager could connect openly from the Internet. That is a very recent addition to the contrib which is limited to specified IPs (or via ssh tunnel as per HOWTO).
See post by snoble at
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=26402.msg108034#msg108034