High Mifi usage when using virtual machines

A co-worker got me curious about this topic when our group began noticing unusually high bandwidth usage on everyones MiFi devices.  Since these connections are metered we began noticing rather quickly that something was consuming massive amounts of data causing the bill at the end of the month to be unbearable.  Of course we blamed each other for too much Youtube or other such things but as we looked into it, the common thread was that we all used some form of Virtual Machine.

It all started with this post:

Constant NetBIOS Name Service query/refresh for Windows 7 VM

After looking at this thread I did ask around and just about everyone in our group had some form of virtual machine running in the background OR had the app open with their virtual machines paused.

I ran my own tests and discovered that if I went to:

/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library

and ran:

sudo ./vmnet-sniffer -e vmnet4

vmnet4 is the internal network that I am using for all my virtual machines in order for them to talk to one another.  This network was a private network with no connectivity to the internet so I never even considered it a culprit to the increase in bandwidth consumed on my MiFi device.

As it turns out.  Up until VMware Fusion 6, even having all your virtual machines paused, there was still unusually high levels of chatter going out through my MiFi device.

The problem seems to have gone away with Fusion 6 (when the VMs are off) but when the virtual machines are on the issue is still there.

SO

If you have no need for WINS, or NETBIOS over TCP/IP..... Turn it OFF.

Unless you are testing some application that still uses it all it is doing is causing constant chatter on the network.  Which, if your main connection to the internet happens to be your cell phone or a MiFi device.....  Get ready for a big bill.

Android users beware! iMessage app looks phishy

iMessage makes the jump to Android in the form of an unofficial app http://drippler.com/updates/share/imessage-makes-jump-android-form-unofficial-app Via j.mp/drippler_app

This just in

Apple must have fixed something because my living room Apple TV is now upgrading to iOS 6.....

Now lets just see if PlexConnect still works.

mxHero

Im qctually going to start using this...  as an oldschool email admin inlike just about every feature.  Now to get it to work ilas an addon to mac mail...

This Week's Top Downloads - http://pulse.me/s/qyzc0

Apple TV 6 pulled?

Worked fine on the one I travel with ao imagine my surprise when I cant get rhe one at home to update..  at least now I know why now

Apple TV 6.0 quietly pulled following bricked updates, connectivity issues - http://pulse.me/s/qz0ny

FIPS error in .Net

This link came in handy when I ran into a domain that had FIPS turned on by default via GPO.  It doesn't matter if it is not a sharepoint app.  If you are using any .Net app in an environment like this, you may get the errors described in the link below.

The key is to edit the machine.config file (probably found in C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\CONFIG)

and make sure there is a section like this.  *I had to add this section*

<configuration>
    <runtime>
        <enforceFIPSPolicy enabled="false"/>
    </runtime>
</configuration>

Props to the poster of the link below

http://sharepoint4ever.blogspot.com/2011/09/fips-problem-in-sharepoint-2010.html?m=1

Also found this information helpfull

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811833

I found that even if the global registry key was not set, if you are getting an error like this:

This implementation is not part of the Windows Platform FIPS validated cryptographic algorithms. 

Then just try adding that section above to the machine file.  I don't remember if a reboot was necessary but like all things Microsoft, it couldn't hurt...

Quick office = more google drive space

Download, install, register with tour gmail for extra 10gig gdrive space...  even if you think you wont use it, we can all use more cloud storage...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android