Vista System Event Log. Please Help!

I?m new to vista…
Every time I log in to my computer has a message that pops up in the dock that?s says something about a system event log and failed to log in (or something like that). I think it has to do with I?m trying to have our server do backups to this computer but never does anything. I believe vista is keeping the server from logging in to my computer even as admin.

SO my first question is, how do I check this event log.
Next is does anyone know why I can?t use Backup on Win server ’03 to schedule a back up on my vista machine. It works when I chose backup now, but its best to do at night because it?s 500gb.