Precision custom shapes in PowerPoint

I have been given a PowerPoint shape (below) and I want to create a new version of it - say 4- or 5-sided rather than 3. Any ideas how it was created in the first place? It's a freeform shape so I can edit it and add points as required, but I can't get the precision I need by just shifting the lines.

Is there some cunning editing technique that was used to create it or was it created in another tool and ported into PowerPoint? I've tried pasting it into Visio but it only pasted as an image.

Answer

I've worked it out!

There's a hidden command in PowerPoint called Combine Shapes. You need to add it into the quick launch bar to access it. It contains the options to merge shapes to create a custom shape.

The particular example I had was created by drawing 3 overlapping circles and then using the Intersection option to create the combined shape.

windows 7 - Incremental Backup

The data I have on my system typically changes a lot in a month. Because of this, I feel the need to back-up all my files on a monthly basis.

Since backing up all the data from scratch takes considerable time, could anyone tell me if it could be done in an incremental fashion, like an update to the currently existing backup data?

Note: I would prefer to use the Windows-7 backup wizard itself and not to use any third-party application as much as possible.

Answer

like an update to the currently existing backup data?

You can do that, though if you update the current backup and you overwrite it you might want to look at something like rsync. That compares your current data with the backup and only transfers the changes.

Incremental backups on the other hand usually do not change the backup data. They add a file with the differences.

These are slight but important differences.

• A single up to date backup will be the same size as your data.


• A single full (first incremental) backup with only incrementals added afterward will grow in size. Every months change will be added. Month after month.

Depending on how much data you backups this may or may not be a problem.

Then there is a question where do you store the backups. You did not ask it, but you want to consider it. A backup on a drive in the same computer can be useful, but if lightning strikes (or theft, or fire, or ...) then you loose both the main data and the backup.

Therefor when selecting you backup solution, consider at least these additional points:

• How much space and time to I need for a backup?


• Where do I store the backups.


• Can I encrypt the backups (in case of theft, or off-site storage) and where do I store the encryption key?

(This started as a comment but I can't fit in in the bloody small comment fields).

How to get good video performance for remote access to virtualized computer?

At home, I'd like to move my main Windows installation off of my desktop computer and replace it with a virtualized guest installation on my combined file server, web server and media center. The server is always on so I plan to connect with Remote Desktop locally from my desktop computer, or remotely from a 3G laptop, whenever I want to access this main installation with all programs etc. Windows 7 everywhere (and server needs to keep running it in order to provide Windows Media Center).

When running over LAN from my desktop computer I would really like to be able to stay in the virtualized installation for as many tasks as possible. I've tested running the guest in Windows 7 Virtual PC, connecting to it with standard Remote Desktop, and most things work really really well except that video can be quite choppy. I can see that RDP7's Windows Media Player redirection is working nicely, as WMV files play smoothly, but unfortunately most of the video content I watch is Flash based (seminars, Google TV on Youtube, etc) and doesn't get that speed-boost.

So, can I improve this in some way to get better [Flash/non-WMV] video performance? Can I optimize the setup somehow?

Or are there alternative remote display products with better Flash performance? (I read that Citrix does Flash redirection, but the product suite seems very enterprisy)

My current LAN is 100Mbit, but I can easily upgrade to 1Gbit, if needed.

Answer

After investigating a bit, it looks like some of the virtualization products own remote access solutions are the most promising, such as VirtualBox's VRDP, KVM SPICE and Hyper-V RemoteFX. These are all RDP compatible but do additional stuff to optimize the delivery of "often changing" areas, some by compressing with a lossy codec. I've only tried out VirtualBox VRDP so far, and am unfortunately seeing a fair bit of bugs, but it looks like the basic model works as video does play smoother.

windows - How can I keep folders synchronized between several machines over my home network?

Like many people I take quite a few photos, and also like quite a few people I don't back up as frequently as I should.

What I'd like to be able to do is automatically synchronize my "to be backed up" folder to some of the other machines that live on my home network.

I need something that:

• Doesn't require anyone to be logged on


• Monitors folders and doesn't require a manual start


• Only sends across what has changed


• Doesn't force traffic over an Internet connection (The initial sync may be several gigabytes)


• Isn't limited beyond local available disk space (EDIT: For the sake of argument, assume there is in excess of 50 Gb that I'd like to float around.)


• Copes if "the other end" goes away unexpectedly, is not available (for instance, If I've taken my laptop to see my parents, I obviously won't be able to see my desktop PC)

Is anyone aware of anything that fits the bill? I've come close, with things like Windows Live Mesh (but that is both limited in quantity, and requires me to be logged on at both ends for the sync to er, sync), but I want to evaluate the options before sitting down and developing something myself if needs be.

Does anyone know of anything that fits my requirements?

Answer

You're asking for a lot.

Since internet syncing is out, you can't go Dropbox which is what I would have voted for.

You could take a look at SyncToy, since from your tagging I'm assuming you are on Windows. It is free from Microsoft.

However, this MAY not fulfill your demand of "not being logged on". I am not quite sure how to interpret this. SyncToy does not work when you are not logged on on the machine that requires a sync. However, it can pull data form unattended machines (as long as these give access to the protocols that SyncToy uses.

SyncToy has worked for me and for my friends in the past. I am not currently using it, because I switched to a Mac.

Update: from Windows users, I also hear good stories about SyncBack, which offers a free version.

Windows 8 unable to connect to WPA2 AES Wireless Network

I'm running Windows 8 and am unable to connect to my home wireless network. I've tried restarting the router, patching the drivers to the next version, patching the drivers to the last version, running windows update and patching the chipset drivers to the latest version.

So far nothing has worked. My computer can get on the internet via USB tethering on my phone or an open Wi-Fi connection, but it is unable to connect to my home WPA2 AES secured wireless network. It sees the network, attempts to connect, gets a limited connection and then drops the connection. All the other wireless devices in my household have no problems.

I have the new Dell XPS 12, running Windows 8 using an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 wireless adapter.

I've refreshed Windows twice now to try different driver configurations. I've tried uninstalling all the Dell software, I've tried uninstalling all the Intel software and reinstalling just the drivers. I've tried turning switching the ability for the Wireless driver to turn the computer off or on. I've tried setting up the connection manually from desktop mode. I've tried switching it on and off using the wireless button on the keyboard and in the software.

So far nothing has allowed me to connect to the secured network. It just keeps getting a limited connection, dropping the connection and retrying.

EDIT: In addition to switching off some of the weird WiFi connection managers, I also had to switch the channel of the WiFi itself in order to connect.

Answer

I had a similar issue with my Acer laptop a month back.

Basically it was whatever helpful 'apps' comes with the wireless driver to give you a connection manager.

My one was called 'easyconnect'. I had to prevent it from starting up using Task Manager.

Rebooted and now it works great.

Check your Windows Desktop task tray (near the clock) for little icons for 3rd party tools that help with connections, make sure they are all GONE when the system first boots up. and then the normal windows tools will connect fine.

bios - wake-up by the computer

some time ago(10 years back) I've read on PC Magazine that some mainboards have some settings which allow to a computer to open at a certain hour. I need to make my computer to wake me up in each morning. How can I do that ? What MB settings allow this feature?

ps: i will like to shout down the computer during the night(not sleep or hibernate mode). ATM I'm using windows xp and 7 on my computers.

Answer

Most BIOS have an option to wake the computer up at a defined time. This option is usually named "Resume by alarm" or "Wake-up on RTC", something like this (not wake on lan, though, this is something else).

You can find more details about it at this article.

Nb: You can find a list of keys to enter the BIOS setup at this page. It should however be written in a corner when booting the computer.

How do you create a vim key mapping that requires numbers before the hotkey (like )?

I want to create a mapping like the G hotkey that jumps to a line (e.g., to jump to line 10: 10G). How can I do that?

Answer

You can obtain that number from the v:count or v:count1 variable. See

:help v:count

For example,

:map G :echo v:count