Frequently Asked Questions or How to Use AutoClickExtreme

How to use AutoClickExtreme?
- First, do the whole routine task manually, for you to know exactly where to click, press, which windows to open.
- Click on the Record button and carry out all the actions you need, stop the Record by clicking on the blinking icon in the Tray.
- For higher reliability use Pixel Control (press NumLock twice during the Record). Then, the image indicated during Record will be found during Replay. If you use Pixel Control, you can be completely sure that the program will click on the required pictogram or find the required message on the screen.
- For higher flexibility of scripts use Replay Branches. If the indicated image is not found, you can add alternative images. If AutoClickExtreme finds one of the alternative images, it will perform the corresponding sequence of actions or, if you need this, it will play some other Records.
- Press Shift twice if you want to make a pause during Record. Meanwhile, you can use Smart Control to set the launch of the applications (documents) you need; to change the Clipboard (thus, you won't have to type words, you can insert them during Replay) to speed up the Replay process. You can also use the Clipboard to insert the full path name, thus, you won't have to choose the full path in the dialogue box. You can also use double Shift simply to pause to do some other things.
How to speed up playback?
In 99,99% of cases it is possible to set Playback at the maximum speed without insertion of long pauses "with margin", in order to wait until some operation is completed. For example, it is wrong to make standbys "with margin" while the page is being loaded in the browser – it is enough to wait for activation of the button "Reload" in the browser with pixel control, which corresponds to complete loading of the page. At first it is recommended to check the script, playing it with the nominal speed and only after several successful Playbacks increase the Playback speed by moving the slider which regulates it.
BACKGROUND MODE of AutoClickExtreme
First method. It consists in trying to connect to your own computer using the remote desktop connection. It is the most resource saving variant. Computer name is 127.0.0.1, administrator’s username and password. The difficulty here may lie in the fact that in Windows XP there were allowed 2 sessions for remote access. But in Windows 7 there is only one session, thus you will not be able to connect using the second session, while the first one is already being used by you. To users’ complaints Microsoft says that they should install Windows Server. The second method is resource-intensive – it consists in installing a virtual machine on your computer. It looks like another operation system in a separate window. This mode is quite interesting, but it requires a lot of computer resources. I personally used VM VirtualBox from Oracle (FreeWare), it works without failures. This method is also attractive, considering the fact that we can create archive versions of the VM (virtual machine) and in case of any problems roll back to the archive version.
How to work With Pixel Control
Pixel Control is designed to find the definite images on the screen + to bind mouse clicks to these images + to bind a separate Replay Branch to a certain image
How to record a click on a menu with the help of Pixel Control. In particular:
How to record a click on the contextual menu of an application in the Tray?
During the Record, press NumLock twice, mark the pictogram of the application you need and click on it with the right mouse button. When the contextual menu appears, press NumLock twice again, mark a part of the menu item you need and click with the left mouse button on it. BUT the click hasn't been made yet! To record the click correctly, (!) you'll have to open the menu once again with a right mouse button click. This time AutoClickExtreme itself will find the menu item you need and click on it. This additional action is to be done, otherwise the contextual menu goes out of focus and then disappears.
One more peculiarity you'll have to pay attention to: if a menu is opening slowly, AutoClickExtreme may "miss the aim" while clicking on it. You can solve the problem by inserting a small pause (200-300 ms) before the corresponding Pixel Control, to give the menu time to open.
Can Pixel Control help if the image is below the visible screen area?
In case the image you need is not found, make a separate Replay Branch to scroll the visible part (to make it simpler, press PageDown), so that the image you need could be seen on the screen. If the image wasn't found again, press PageDown, up to the moment it is found. This is how a man is looking for the image he needs: if he doesn't find, he scrolls down again and again, until he finds it.
How to click on the next element in the list?
Suppose, you see a list of elements on the screen, where you have to choose the elements one by one. As a rule, in such lists the current chosen element is darker than the others. To choose the next following element, you should mark the area with the border clear from any text between the chosen element and the one you want to click on. That would be a narrow square, which consists of two strips: light and dark. Then, you should edit the corresponding Pixel Control - define the click coordinates outside the found square, then the click will be made on the element next to this border.
Deviation in search of a PC. What is it and how is it calculated? The average deviation in colors per pixel, which is permissible for search of an image. The color of each pixel in the screen can be presented as 3 constituents: red, green and blue. Each of these constituents has gradation from 0 to 255. For example, the color of a red pixel will contain 255 degrees of the red constituent, 0 degrees of green one and 0 degrees of blue one. Often images on the screen are presented "one-to-one", i.e. all constituents of the sought image match the picture displayed on the screen to the accuracy of each color constituent, but there are often cases, when a picture on the screen is a little different from the sought one, this can happen due to font smoothing, underlining of separate letters in menu items, dynamic imaging and so on. In such cases even creation of alternative images will not help. That is why for each area of the screen there is counted deviation of color constituents and their total number is divided by the number of pixels, which participate in the search – and we get the average deviation in colors per pixel. If this deviation is not that large, then we may consider the sought image identical to the image on the screen. By regulating this parameter a user can forcedly set search of absolutely identical image, by setting 0, which reduces the search time. And if a user sets the value higher than that set on default (15 colors per pixel), he lets the image found to be much different from that sought. In case the parameter value is set to 100 colors per pixel and more, anything can be displayed on the screen, that is why it is NOT recommended to set this value higher than 50.
Where is the window "Stop me", the one that shows the current task progress?
During the search process the window "Stop me" may cover the image you want to find. That's why this window is hidden, during the search process.
Can a Record made on one computer be used on another one?
Yes, you can use it on another computer, but you'll have to consider lots of things. The versions of the programs you automate should be the same on these computers, and the folders where these programs are installed should be identical. Moreover, if you use Pixel Control, some windows settings should be identical too. In order not to rerecord the whole task, you can just open each Pixel Control from the table of evens and change the images.
How to start Replay from the Desktop or Quick Access Toolbar?
You can do it with the help of the command line and the bat file. You can always start the indicated task with this bat file. You can place the bat file wherever you like: on the desktop or Quick Access Toolbar.
Place the following directions of the command line into a text file with ".bat" extension:
rem we send the command to stop to be on the safe side
start C:\"Program Files"\AutoClickExtreme\AutoClicker.exe -stop
rem start the replay of the Record we need
start C:\"Program Files"\AutoClickExtreme\AutoClicker.exe -play D:\Arch\aips\autoclicker.aip
rem or start the Playlist
start C:\"Program Files"\AutoClickExtreme\AutoClicker.exe -play D:\Arch\aips\testing.plal
You can also plan the Replay of a task by placing this bat file into the standard Windows scheduler or into the multifunctional AutoClickExtreme scheduler.
How to start the Task Manager, if Ctrl+Alt+Del is not recorded/played correctly?
The Task Manager can be easily started from Smart Control, Application Control, if you add "C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe" there. The Task Manager can't be started with Record/Play of Ctrl+Alt+Del - that's a peculiarity of Windows.
How to make head or tail in huge Records of 1000 actions?
You can put any information you need into the comments in the professional view of AutoClickExtreme. You can mark key actions there, the actions that need editing during the next Replay, etc. But the best way out is to create smaller Records, which correspond to completed operations and name them more logically. You can start or link these Records together with the help of Playlist, with the help of Pixel Control (to start a certain Record when a certain image is found - that's the simplest way), or through a bat file, as described above.
How not to get mixed up in a pile of Records?
You can start Records not only through the treelike list of Records, but also you can place a link to the Record folder in AutoClickExtreme on the Desktop. On default it's "C:\Program Files\AutoClickExtreme\". If you open this folder in the explorer, you can load it into AutoClickExtreme with a double click on the Record you need.
What can I do if a Task is Replayed too slowly?
It's always possible to speed up any task replay. You should try to organize your scripts so, that AutoClickExtreme worked at the highest speed. Let Pixel Control wait for the changes on the screen you need, but in the cases when there is no need in waiting, let the program Play at the highest speed. If it's still difficult to speed up the work process, feel free email at admin@autoclickextreme.com and ask any questions concerning AutoClickExtreme.
How to avoid delays, irregularities of Replay if Alt+Tab is used?
It is strongly recommended to delete all Alt+Tab's from the table of events. So that they were not recorded, you can swap panels with a mouse click on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. These clicks won't be recorded at all, as there is no need in them. Alt+Tab's are not important for AutoClickExtreme either, as it will take in focus the most appropriate window. Thus, the Record Replay doesn't depend on the window in focus before Replay.
What to do if there are problems in AutoClickExtreme work in any Windows version?
Make sure that AutoClickExtreme work is not blocked by your antivirus. (You can check this by switching off your antivirus. If the program works well, you should add it to the trusted zone.) There can be another problem - work of some other macro recorder (auto clicker). Different macro recorders block each other. If you face some other problem, feel free to email at admin@autoclickextreme.com.
What to do, if there are problems in AutoClickExtreme work in Windows Vista?
The first way out was sent to us by our user Armen Tsugunyan: "I want to share my experience of dealing with the problem.
1. I switched off UNC and rebooted my computer, then I started the program installation from the name of administrator, though it was the administrator's account.
2. I didn't switch off my antivirus, but added the program to the exception.
3. I rebooted my PC and switched on UNC again.
4. And rebooted the computer once again.
The result is 100% work of the program."
The second way out was send to us by another user Gyenadiy from Yelets: "The simplest way out is to install AutoClickExtreme in any nonsystem folder or put it in another logical disk, not "C:\Program Files" as it is on default."
About AutoClickExtreme security.
There is NO DANGER in using AutoClickExtreme! AutoClickExtreme is a secure key logger (the program that collects users' actions), as it can't transmit information through the Internet or by any other means.
How to hide passwords in the table of events?
So that you passwords were not displayed in the table of events, you can keep them in "Smart Control" -> "Clipboard Control" and insert them in your macros by Ctrl+V. Nevertheless, this approach cannot provide complete security of keeping you password information, if other people have access to your computer.
About AutoClickExtreme registration.
The secondary key you buy will be active without time limit in the program version you've bought. You can also update the program free of charge up to the version two units higher than the bought one (for example, if you buy version 4.70, you can update it free of charge up to version 6.70). The secondary key is active only on the computer where the primary key was generated. But, as a rule, we give the second secondary key for the computer at work free of charge. After OS reinstallation the same secondary key is active not depending on the Windows version.
Hook is not set.
During recording you can do is not recorded.
UPD: It's fixed in new version 6.39. Update and forget this bug, please :)
What could be causing this and how to fix it:
- This method helps in 99% of cases. Try to start both programs (ACE and automated program) with administrative rights. Make sure that both programs are running with administrator privileges.
- Try to temporarily disable UAC
- Try to disable antivirus for a while.
- Some programs built-in protection from keyloggers. In this case we recommend to try the other alternative programs.
- Please report the results either on my email admin@autoclickextreme.com Thank you.

AutoClickExtreme

Smart Auto Clicker and Software Testing Tool.

Frequently Asked Questions or How to Use AutoClickExtreme

Smart Auto Clicker and
Software Testing Tool.