AHK News 2026-03-19 Do you suffer from this Disorder❓

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

There’s a common disease among Programmers and Entrepreneurs.

It shows up a lot in the AutoHotkey world.

It often disguises itself as “clean code” or “better architecture.”

(If you struggle with this, review the different roles you should be thinking in while coding)

But most of the time…

It’s just avoidance.

I call it:

Perpetual Optimization Disorder

Here’s how it usually shows up:

You don’t release the script because it’s “not quite ready”

You refactor the function… again.

You rewrite the GUI instead of testing it.

You spend hours reorganizing your libraries.

You tell yourself that one more improvement will make it “good enough” to share.

Meanwhile someone else — with a much messier script — has already posted theirs on GitHub or the AHK forum…

And people are using it❗

📌 TODAY’S TAKEAWAY

Perfect code that never ships helps no one  

Not you.
Not other programmers.
Not the people that could be saving time using it.  (This is exactly what we fix with our students—getting your scripts usable fast)

Six weeks of polishing = six weeks of zero feedback

Someone else shared their tool, learned what people actually needed, and improved theirs.

The standard for “good enough” is simple:

  • It solves a real problem
  • It is (mostly) reliable
  • Someone else can use it

Everything else is nice to have.

  1. Scripts get better after people use them.
    Real-world usage reveals problems you’ll never discover on your own.

Bottom Line

If your script isn’t shared, it isn’t improving.

And if it isn’t improving…

Someone else’s script is. ❗

If you want help working out those last little tweaks, book time on my calendar and we’ll get you launched in no-time!

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

JustGoogledScript

Stop Hiring Einstein to do your laundry 👕

Are you burning through AI tokens faster than free samples at Costco on a Saturday?

Matching the model to the task could be a great way to save you both time and money. 

In this video I showed Hero members how they can get help deciding which model is right for their task.

💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract
💰 Save Money on AI Models: The Smart Way to Choose the Right One | AHK Hero Extract


Reduce Token Usage by 97%

Alternatively you could also consider using Jcode Munch to reduce your token usage.

Irfan walks through using it in this video.  It’s a lot easier to use than you think!

It trims unnecessary tokens from your prompts before sending them to AI

🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% – Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract
🤖 AI Tool Cuts Token Usage by 97% - Save THOUSANDS on Claude! 💰|AHK Hero Extract


Creating Mockups of GUIs

Speaking of making things easy; in this video I show how you can take a GUI created from AI, Moqups, or just a screen shot and break it down into “Layers” with Canvas Magic Layers.

Stop Coding GUIs by Hand – Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨
Stop Coding GUIs by Hand - Use This Magic Layer Trick ✨

Don’t forget if you want to build the GUI yourself, our Intro to GUIs course is a great place to start❗


Improving People’s Lives: Story #87

While in Las Vegas, I had lunch with my stepsister and niece.  Both were mentioning they wanted to learn more about how AI could help them.  

I introduced them to NotebookLM and showed them how they can quickly learn any topic through a Video, Podcast or Infographics.  

BTW- I noticed videos recently had an upgrade.  Check out this one that I created discussing how many businesses make huge mistakes when creating a Lead Magnet.

💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts
💸Companies Waste Millions on Content That Never Converts

They were stoked!


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.

Build Self-Improving Claude Code Skills. The Results Are Crazy.


⚡️Productivity tips:  

Niek, an AHK Hero member mentioned how he gets some of his best ideas while showering. 

I told him that I’ve had the same experience for years!  

The point is not to “shower more” (well maybe it applies 😆) but find some “down time” when you can let your subconscious solve your problems for you!


🤣 A spot of Humor:

This was a show I watched on Saturday mornings when i was a kid. Wow they were hurting for content!

Run, Joe, Run
Run, Joe, Run - Season One

Today it has a different meaning for me


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #126

This week was packed!  😁

We updated AHK Script Maker with code folding and a slick right-click option to convert V1 scripts to V2.

We also leveled up Automate My Task, played with AI-powered MySQL queries in plain English, and automated OBS webcam positioning.

In this week’s video I walk you through all of it, including why I think AI tools are basically the best employees money can buy.

What we automated with AutoHotkey #126
What we automated with AutoHotkey #126


Clients say…

I’m astonished at what we’ve done! — Michael N. (Radiologist)


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background 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 536 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

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

  • Amazing things get done when you don’t care who gets the credit — Joe Glines
  • The thing most people like least is a mirror — Dan Kennedy
  • You’re like a dull knife that just ain’t cutting. You’re talking loud and saying nothing — James Brown

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. One of my favorite sayings is

Version One is infinitely better than Version None

If you need help launching, or just a kick in the butt, by all means we can help!

 

This was made for YOU ❗ AHK News 2026-02-26

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

Do you want your email to be read❓

Focus in on the needs & interests of the person you are writing to and try and connect with them on something they are already thinking about❗

Legendary copywriter Robert Collier says “Always enter the conversation already taking place in the customer’s mind“.

It’s why the majority of my Newsletter intros focus on saving time / being more productive.

Over the years I’ve spoken to hundreds of AutoHotkey users.

The vast majority of which are:

  • Not programmers
  • Want to get things DONE!

During a client call last week I was mentioning to a client that I’ve never “liked” programming.

I taught myself how to program because I had work to do and was far too “pig headed” to do it manually.

I then found people that were far better programmers than me and realized I can have them build things for me.

So, if you’re wanting to buy-back some time and get back to solving problems, book a call with me today and we’ll figure out how we can get you to be even more productive.

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

bestDecision

Learn more about hiring AHK experts here

Step-up your AI Coding ❗

In this video we discuss our approaches to developing code.  Which models to use depending on the stage that you’re in.  We then dive into many of the VS Code Extensions that help us be more productive.

Advanced AI Lessons using VSCode and Agents | AHK Hero Extract
Advanced AI Lessons using VSCode and Agents | AHK Hero Extract


Claude Skill Search

Speaking of AI, if you’re building a lot of Claude Skills (and frankly, you should) then you might like our Claude Skills search tool to help you easily find / remember the one you want.

You can check it out in this video.

🎪 This Skills Organizer Will Make You an AI Power User! | AHK Hero Extract
🎪 This Skills Organizer Will Make You an AI Power User! | AHK Hero Extract


Automating Older Windows Software

We know of 20 ways to automate programs with AutoHotkey.   If you’re fortunate enough to be automating an “older” (Win32 based) Windows program then you need to watch this video!

Our two tools (Control Syntax Writer and Menu Syntax writer) make working with both Win32 Controls and Menus super easy and will literally write AutoHotkey code for you❗

And don’t forget this is an API approach (not sending keystrokes or mouse clicks) so it is FAR more reliable!

💡 Why Your Old Software Is Actually BETTER for Automation
💡 Why Your Old Software Is Actually BETTER for Automation

BTW we dive deep into Controls in our Intermediate AHK course which comes with a double your money back guarantee.

200% Money Back Guarantee badge with a yellow and green starburst seal for AHK courses


Hide Sensitive Data

Ever need to let someone access your computer but want to quickly hide a hard drive❓

Check out how easy it is to do in this video with our DriveToggler tool.

Quickly hide a drive with Drive Toggler | AHK Hero Extract
Quickly hide a drive with Drive Toggler | AHK Hero Extract


Improving People’s Lives: Story #83

The other day I created a simple tool showing how we can show search results based on the “topic” being searched (not on the text).  You can get a quick look in this video

🔥 This Search Algorithm Understands What You ACTUALLY Mean❗
🔥 This Search Algorithm Understands What You ACTUALLY Mean❗


📚 What we’re reading


🤖 AI News that you Need to Know


⚡️Productivity tips:  Knowledge Cards

Sticky notes, Trello, a whiteboard… something.

Getting tasks from head to paper is a fantastic way to de-clutter the mind❗


🤣 A spot of Humor: Funny Blonde Moments

THE FUNNIEST BLONDE MOMENTS IN GAME SHOW HISTORY!

THE FUNNIEST BLONDE MOMENTS IN GAME SHOW HISTORY!


What we 🅰utomated this week with AutoHotkey #123

This week was a busy one❗ I covered everything from a custom church meeting management system to AI-powered video segmentation, PDF mergers, and a whole bunch of productivity utilities.

In this week’s video I walk you through 40+ tools including some seriously cool AI integrations like embeddings-based search and voice cloning.

If you’re into automation, you’re not gonna want to miss this one!

What we Automated with AutoHotkey #123
What we Automated with AutoHotkey #123


Clients say…

I had no idea you could do this with AutoHotkey — Jim F.


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background 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 527 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members❗

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

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

  • Do the right thing every time, as a habit. If you’re not clear on what the right thing is, that means you’re facing another life lesson. Figure it out. The test begins now — John Carlton
  • The more random you are, the less success you’ll have — Dan Kennedy
  • Work Hard; Be Curious; Be Honest❗— Joe Glines

AHK Newsletter⏩SHARE WITH A FRIEND⏩

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator  Dedicated to Multiplying your Income

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. This may sound self serving (and it surely is) but we are here for you to help you be more productive!  You might find this hard to believe but I do what I do to help YOU be more productive!   Why not schedule a call and see how you can dial it up a notch❓

AHK News 2026-01-15 Why I spent $187.89 on a bobblehead doll👀

Tag: 2025-      Subj: Why I spent $187.89 on a bobblehead doll

AutoHotkey Newsletter

Howdy %Name%,

So I got an offer the other day that I just could not pass up!

You may be aware that I have my Undergrad was in Marketing and my Masters in Market Research.

I spend ~20 years working in corporate America in/around Marketing.

The one thing I learned is that the vast amount of Advertising & Marketing done by Corporate America is crap?

Around 15 years ago I happened upon a video from Dan Kennedy and, within a couple of minutes, I could tell he was different.

One major difference is that he insisted that everything was tracked!  If you could not measure it, you didn’t do it!   Period.

Over the years I’ve watched hundreds of seminars from him and read all of his books.

He teaches mostly about direct mail, and marketing, however he does also emphasize productivity.

I’ve learned so much from him that, when I saw the chance to order this Bobblehead doll I had to do it!

Bobblehead doll of a man with blond hair, glasses and a goatee riding a white goat with curved horns

Now, when I feel myself “goofing off” I just glance at him on my desk and get back to work!

Now on with the show…

Learn how to Master VSCode Make the switch to v2 Intro to AutoHotkey Intermediate AutoHotkey Intermediate ObjectsGUIs are Easy w/AutoHotkey Access all our Courses; Quit when you want

runAprogram

Advanced Tips for Programming with AI

During last week’s Hero call, Isaias gave a tutorial on how he’s found better ways to work with AI.

He showed how, if you’re using VS Code, you can restrict its ability to edit files, and much more.

Check it out in this video.

Advanced AI Lessons using VSCode and Agents | AHK Hero Extract
Advanced AI Lessons using VSCode and Agents | AHK Hero Extract


Feeding your Data to Various AI tools

Speaking of AI, in this video I walked through some of the cool things I’ve been doing with AI.

From easily creating deployable Apps to leveraging NotebookLM to write marketing materials, AI is really becoming incredibly helpful!

Pushing Data into various AI tools | AHK Hero Extract
Pushing Data into various AI tools | AHK Hero Extract


Automating Parts of the AHK Newsletter

I’ve been writing the AHK Newsletter for over half a decade and have been, over time, streamlining the process.

In this video, I discuss some of the improvements I just made and also discuss some that I’m considering with AI

?? Automating Content Curation: My AI Newsletter Workflow Revealed | AHK Hero Extract
?? Automating Content Curation: My AI Newsletter Workflow Revealed | AHK Hero Extract


Scraping Data from an App

A hero member was asking how we can use AutoHotkey to extract data from an app.   This led to a great discussion of various ways to rip the data which you can see in this video.

?? Web Scraping Secrets: Fake Browser Authentication Like a Pro! | AHK Hero Extract
?? Web Scraping Secrets: Fake Browser Authentication Like a Pro! | AHK Hero Extract


Improving People’s Lives: Story #75

One of our clients does “official” reporting where she has very clear requirements from her employer.

Unfortunately her data was “messy” but, thankfully, she new the logic behind “the rules” really well so, a few Regular Expressions later, and we got her code that saved her hours of time!


?? What we’re reading


?? AI News that you Need to Know


??Productivity tips:  Excel Tips

  • Ctrl + Space – Select entire Column
  • Shift + Space – Select entire Row

?? A spot of Humor:  Tiny Hands

Ranking Tiny Hands Pranks ♥???
Ranking Tiny Hands Pranks ♥???


What we ??utomated this week with AutoHotkey #117

This week’s video is packed with some really cool stuff?

I walk you through an AI-powered icon finder that actually understands what you’re looking for (no more guessing keywords!), show off a Google Maps tool that geocodes customer addresses and scrapes restaurant data, and share some debugging sessions from our HERO club calls.

Plus, I reveal my favorite automation trick: using SetTimer with ExitApp to make scripts that automatically “clean up” after themselves – it’s such a simple thing but it makes life so much easier!

What we Automated with AutoHotkey #117
What we Automated with AutoHotkey #117


Clients say…

How can I pay more for this? — Kelly Coughlin


Cartoon superhero mascot in green costume beside the bold text AHK Hero on a yellow background 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 509 hours of recordings teaching AutoHotkey that is exclusive to AHK Hero members?

You can watch 1 hour a day for a year and not repeat content! That’s a lot of AHK Learning!

During this Friday’s call we’re planning to discuss:

  • Help AHK Hero Members with their Questions & Code
  • How I run Android apps on Windows
  • AHK Script Maker: Debugging Debugger
  • Using a Ternary to easily apply changes based on logic (instead of using an “if“)
  • Comparing strings, case sensitivity, how to handle when in map, etc.

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 first, reward second, in order — Dan Kennedy
  • Love will always have baggage attached. Get over it. Love is essential to a full life. No matter what — John Carlton
  • I will always hire a lazy person to do a hard job, because they will always find an easy way to do it — Bill Gates

AHK Newsletter?SHARE WITH A FRIEND?

Do you know someone that would benefit from learning useful automation tips like the gems in today’s issue?  Take a second and forward this newsletter and bask in the glow of their undying gratitude.  Was this email forwarded to you?

Sign up for this Newsletter here.  We never share your email with anyone.  Ever!


the-Automator

Joe, Isaias, Irfan and staff


P.S. Yes, I really did pay that much for the Dan Kennedy Bobblehead doll.

And, with how much time it saves me it was worth every penny!

I’m sure it’s exactly how our customers feel after having us automate something for them!