Foxy...

I am by no means a lighting guru. There are a number of threads that address this. Do a search for "IDL"+"light through window" with "bagginsbill" as the poster.

As to the short answer to your question:

1. Go to the material room and set the Ambient Value to 1 or greater.

2. If you are looking through a pane of glass, make that pane 100% transparent.