.NET Remoting and App.config files

I am moving on to some remoting applications in my project and found another interesting tidbit. Almost all of the remoting examples in Microsoft .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting use console applications as component hosts (listeners) and of course call the RemoteConfigurationFile.Configure method. This really doesn't make sense since in the real world, you are probably going to be running your component host as a service. What isn't revealed is that when you start your service, it's local directory is your system dir (e.g. c:windowssystem32). In order to access your application configuration you either need to hard code the whole path (bad idea) or use the ever so handy AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetupInformation.ConfigurationFile. This makes it much simpler to access the app.config file and load your remoting configuration correctly. I found a snip that this information is included in Ingo Rammer's Book Advanced .NET Remoting in VB.NET but I haven't read that one yet.

Systray icons here to stay

For almost a year now, I have been having problems with my system tray icons disappearing intermittently after startup. I assumed one of the 30 or so startup applications was crashing dropping the explorer process and therefore, only the following tray icons were appearing. I finally had some free time and was in the process of looking for a program to debug the startup process when I hit an interesting link. Apparently, this is a more common issue than I thought, so common that there is a fix called the Ostuni Workaround detailing that disabling the UPnP subsystem will fix the problem. I couldn't really believe that one thing had to do with another but after following the directions and a quick reboot, the problem went away. 5 reboots later, still no problem. I don't have to wait an hour to login or do any other voodoo to get this working. As a nice side benefit, I noticed that the system appears to be running faster. Network browsing is quicker and no longer hangs showing UNC and description of My Network Places. Absolutely great!

512MB MiniSD Finally Arrived

Like a watched pot left forgotten on the stove... the 512MB MiniSD card for my MPx220 finally arrived today. I had forgotten to call and check when the next "back-order" date would be for it and sure enough, it came. Nothing exciting to tell, it seems to hold 512MB so I copied a bunch of MP3's onto my phone. Since I now own the Motorola HS120 Stereo Headset (Headphones and microphone) I have a full blown 512MB MP3 player with me at all times. Sweet.