Most of us have run into a hugely annoying bug with vSphere Client (a.k.a. VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client v4.0) running on Windows 7 RC. When you start the program, you’ll run into an error message:

Error Parsing the server 1.2.3.4 clients.xml file. Login will continue contact your system administrator

After clicking OK, you get the real message:

The type initializer for “VirtualInfrastructure.Utils.HttpWebRequestProxy” threw an exception

A workaround for the solution was posted by ftublo on the VMware Communities forums.

1. Create a folder (e.g. Lib) in the Windows 7 machine where the vSphere client is installed (%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\).
2. Obtain a copy of %SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\System.dll from a non-Windows 7 machine that has .NET 3.5 SP1 installed. Copy this file into the folder created in Step 1.
3. In the vSphere client launcher directory, open the VpxClient.exe.config file in a text editor and add a <runtime> element and a <developmentMode> element within the <configuration> element. Save the file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
...
<runtime>
<developmentMode developerInstallation="true"/>
</runtime>
</configuration>

4. Create a batch file (e.g. VpxClient.cmd) in a suitable location (e.g. Desktop). In this file add a command to set the DEVPATH environment variable to the folder where you copied the System.dll assembly in step 2 and a second command to launch the vSphere client. Save the file.

SET DEVPATH=%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\Lib
"%ProgramFiles%\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"

NOTE: If you are running 64-bit Windows, replace all instances of Program Files with Program Files (x86).

You can now use the VpxClient.cmd (or the shortcut) to launch the vSphere client in Windows 7.

This workaround bypasses the normal .NET Framework loading mechanism. Assembly versions found in the DEVPATH folder are not checked. Handle with care.

After you’ve completed all the steps in Part I of the Buying Your First House series, it’s time to hit the streets!  At this point, you should have your credit reports and scores, your maximum monthly payment for a mortgage, and your pre-approval letter from a bank which outlines the maximum you are able to finance.

In most markets, realtor services for the buyer are free, so take advantage of it; their commission comes from the seller.  You are going to want to be honest with your realtor but definitely need someone you can trust.  Ask your family, friends, and co-workers for an agent they trust.

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Buying your first home is probably the most stressful thing you’ll ever have to do.  I am finding I am constantly going back and forth re-tweaking numbers; I wish someone made a list of things to do before even talking to a realtor!  Hopefully you can benefit from this series of articles on how to buy your first home.

Our goal at the end of Part I is to have three numbers:  your credit scores, the maximum monthly mortgage payment you are comfortable with, and a pre-approval letter that has your maximum that is allowed to be financed.

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To everyone baffled by the tons of commercials with singing pirates and catchy jingles, consider this post a public service announcement regarding your credit report.

You are entitled to a one (1) free copy of your Credit Report from each credit reporting agency ANNUALLY by law (1 credit report from each credit reporting agency = 3 reports). The ONLY website authorized to do this is  https://www.annualcreditreport.com.  Everything else is a scam!

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It was a dark and stormy night, a sharp ringing arises from your phone.  You pick up the phone quizzically.  You don’t recognize the number. Who could be calling at this hour?  It has to be an emergency!  Cautiously, you press the “Connect” button and lift the phone to your ear.  Before you can muster out a groggy and raspy “Hello” an automated female voice comes on the line warning you that your factory warranty on your car is expiring!  /cue ominous music/

If this situation seems eerily familiar, you are one of millions of people currently being targeted by the latest identity theft scam.

If you thought you were protected by the Do Not Call list, think again.  There is a tiny exception which you may not be aware of; if you initiate a call to the company, the company may call you for up to 18 months.  “I never did that!” you say.  When you received a call and missed it, did you instinctively call it back?

This is assuming that the company even follows the Do Not Call list, if they don’t, it’s illegal, but you have to file a complaint to the FCC.  Note the date and time, and number from which they called you.

For the daring, before you give them any of your information (as if you would), tell them you are legally obligated to let them know this call is being recorded and ask them a few questions.  Ask them their name, their company, and their company’s address.  Make sure you save this information for when you file a complaint to the FCC.

The most important thing to remember here is do not give out your personal or financial information to people on the phone.  For the dummies, this includes any Infomercial you see on TV.  Companies in the past were notorious for selling this information to every bidder since you were silly enough to buy something on TV without doing any research on the product or the selling company.  If you are easily glamoured into buying something because some fast-talking good-looking person said so, you are flagged as a sucker and other companies want their shot at selling you something.

A panda takes the place of the iconic yellow man in Google Street View

I was expecting something a little less subtle from Google, but I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I noticed a black and white character noting my location in Google Street View.

Visitors are greeted with a cute black and white icon of a panda instead of their normal yellow man.

Many of you were disappointed when Yodm’3D sold out (in fact, it still remains my most read post), but fear not as a new contender has entered the ring.

DeskHedron has released v1.0 including source for any enterprising young developer to improve.

Still in its infancy, it allows hotkey switching between desktops. Nothing fancy yet like dragging windows between desktops, yet.

Yes, it’s true.  Finally a way to get your personal files on each machine you work with that gets backed up online without any worry of who is rummaging through your data when you aren’t looking!  It’s the secure online backup you were looking for!

Windows? Linux? Mac? No problem.  Installers are available for all three systems.

DropBox (a glorified subversion system for the rest of us) has finally worked its way out of beta and will become the backbone for our project.  Transmission of data to DropBox is via HTTPS, so we at least have half the problem resolved.

The second problem is DropBox’s STORAGE of my files.  If they defect to the goverment faster than AT&T did with the NSA, then you can be sure your private key and personal bookmarks to porn sites will be used against you.  I wanted the storage of my files encrypted. Since I couldn’t trust DropBox, I turned to my good old friend, TrueCrypt.

The solution here is to create a TrueCrypt volume inside of your DropBox folder.  Even though DropBox has a 2GB folder limit, you shouldn’t use all of it for your TrueCrypt drive.  Unfortunately, TrueCrypt creates the encrypted partition to it’s maximum capacity, which means if you create a 1GB encrypted volume, it actually takes up 1GB on the harddrive even with nothing in it.  And transferring a 1GB file many times for little to no content isn’t the best plan.

Since the volume is filled out to maximum filesize even with no data, it’s best to create a few smaller drives (in the 256MB range) as DropBox has to upload the entire file at least once and you have to download the synchronized file on every computer.  TrueCrypt can mount about 12 volumes automatically, so my recommendation is to keep the volumes small and increase the sizes for volumes you don’t modify often.

Don’t feel guilty about using encyption.  Don’t be guilted into the “If you have nothing to hide” mantra; privacy is your right as a human, exercise it.

The only good thing about Tom Brady tearing his ACL in the Week 1 opener is the crying of all those fantasy football players.  The screams of agony of thousands of “virtual coaches” as they watch their No. 1 draft pick get sidelined for the season.  Do not feel sympathy for them; these are the same bunch of jocks who thought playing Dungeons and Dragons was queer.  Now 30 years later, when their wives won’t give up the balloon knot, they have to sit in some guy’s living room in a circle around a table and fantasize they are something they are not.  Delicious irony.

I love my little Macbook.  It’s so cute.  And this coming from a guy who has Windows experience back to 3.1, and whose primary job responsibility is to support and manage a Windows domain and hundreds of clients.  So why is my Macbook so nice?

For one main reason: it’s polished. That critical “step-back” after everything is done to say “what can we improve now?”  This is something that Microsoft and companies who build Intel PCs are seriously lacking.

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