Howdy,
Here’s a funny story where the cops came knocking at my door…
While getting my undergraduate degree in Marketing I was the business manager of “the Star” our school newspaper (I mentioned this when I told you about the time I met Charles Shultz ).
Sometimes the editor-in-chief would ask for help because they had a blank spot that needed filling.
Of course I was always happy to come up with a “story”. I’d make-up some bizarre / funny / weird post that would often get lot of laughs.
One time I wrote something like the following in the classifieds:
Wanted
People willing to take mind-altering drugs.
No compensation provided & No guarantee of safety given.
Contact Dr. Joe at 707-765-XXXX
I actually did get a few phone calls and had to inform the people it was a joke.
Then, one day, my doorbell rang.
I answered the door and a policeman was there asking me:
Are you Dr. Joe❓
I literally laughed out loud and confessed I was him and invited him in.
He told me the Police had heard about my posting, figured it was a joke, but had to verify.
We both had a good laugh. I let him peruse my house a bit to get a better feel for me but he left shortly thereafter and I never heard more about it.
But it was a good learning experience.
No matter how crazy your offer is; someone might take you up on it!
And, even ~29-years-ago, “big brother” was watching️
That’s one reason why we love using AutoHotkey for our client work. Keeping files local helps keep (some) of the prying-eyes out of what we’re automating.
Want something automated for you that you’d rather keep private? Take a look at my calendar and let’s have a chat!
Now on with the show…
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AutoHotkey and Stream Deck
For Kamran J. one of our radiologist clients, we figured out a simpler approach to connect Stream Deck to AutoHotkey.
Most people add a button to their Stream Deck that sends a hotkey which they then “watch for”.
This is fine when you have a few however Kamran had hundreds❗
So we needed a more robust solution. Isaias and I figured out how to have multiple Stream Deck buttons bound to one AutoHotkey script.
This works by passing a parameter(s) to the script. You can check it out in this video.
StreamDeck & AutoHotkey: Simplify with One AHK Script for Many Stream Deck Buttons!
How to create a Dynamic Sleep
During an AHK hero call a few weeks ago we created a very interesting way to help with timing of your scripts.
When you use AutoHotkey to imitate a human (sending Mouse Clicks & Keystrokes) the speed of the computer can be very problematic.
Our function helps gauge the status of your CPU and adjust the sleep accordingly. You can check it out in this video.
How to Creating a self-Adjusting Sleep that adjusts to your Computer’s Load
Fix your corrupted Files
Ever download files from LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. where they are bizarrely corrupted? Our tool can often quickly fix this issue.
You can check out this video to see if you think it will help or go and get it here.
How to Remove those Weird characters in your file with File Fixer exe
Prevent accidental closing of Windows
Want to leave a program running but can’t help yourself from closing it? Our v1 and v2 script helps you prevent from closing the program by disabling the close button.
NoClose is a great, simple tool which can help you from closing programs you use frequently. You can check it out in this video.
How to Prevent users, and yourself, from Closing a program : No Close
Improving People’s Lives: Story #30
Michael N., a radiologist client that came to us around 3 years ago, was trying to use AutoHotkey with his PACs (Picture Archiving and Communication System) .
He was borrowing examples how other radiologist use AutoHotkey (which is normally sending keystrokes) and required the program to be active.
He was patient with us (excuse the pun) and we were able to automate his system using Controls which have several advantages (one of which being you don’t have to activate the program to control it.)
This solved many problems he was having and freed him up to focus on reviewing images & saving people’s lives!
What we’re reading
- Makefiles: What are they and what can you do with them?
- Notepad is being “Upgraded” With AI– Here’s how to restore the old version
- A Crash Course in PC Benchmarking
- Vibration Sensors are what your smart home is missing
- Delaying your windows updates? You probably shouldn’t
AI / Chat GPT-3 News / Usage
We’re considering creating another group where we solely talk about and work with AI .
If you’re interested in this group, you can add your contact information here and we’ll get in touch with you when we have more details.
- Sora (Open AI’s video generator) is finally released!
- Go inside the Google Quantum AI lab to learn about how quantum computing works
- OpenAI’s Reinforcement Fine-Tuning Research Program
⚡️Productivity tips: Track your time!
What gets measured gets improved — Joe Glines Consider our TrackingTime script to help see where you spent your time!
A spot of Humor
Don McMillan, a self-confessed nerd, walks through some of his favorite charts in this hilarious video.
Don McMillan – Greatest Charts (Volume 1)
What we utomated this week with AutoHotkey #67
This week we had 106 AutoHotkey scripts that we’ve worked on in the past week. I walk through them in this video.
What we automated with AutoHotkey #67
Client’s say…
I’ve been following The Automator for years now.
I’ve hired them on several occasions to build custom tools for me and my team.
They always deliver more value than promised — AJ Wilcox
AHK Hero
AHK Hero Consider joining the AHK Hero club! Members receive 25% off courses, consultations, tutoring, done for you project work, etc. Currently we have over 351 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗
During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:
- Help AHK Members with their code
- Adding a thousand separator to digits in v2 (Its tricker than you might think!)
- Get the icon of a Windows App
- Putting “ads” in a program / AdPopupAds
- Isaias VS code settings / error with winhttp redirect issue
- Demo AI AutoHotkey error Assist / Talk to AI
- Enabling / disabling Licensing on specific features
- Demonstrating resource drain during debug mode
They also have access to exclusive & pre-released content and 3 hours a week where we help people with their AHK issues (the Saturday calls are geared towards people new to AutoHotkey.)
️ Quotable quotes
- Work harder on yourself than you do on your job — Jim Rohn
- Decisions without actions are worthless — Dan Kennedy
- The object of life is to make your vocation your vacation . — Mark Twain
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Joe, Isaias, Irfan, Rizwan and staff
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P.S. Regarding the intro of this newsletter, I’ve hung-up my “Dr. Joe” title however we are very skilled at “diagnosing” automation issues.
Book a consultation with us? You can see my calendar here.
