IE Middleclick to Open New Window

Windows automation at it's best. Yes, I am all about that. I crunch numbers all day and do a lot of the same tasks over and over again. Anything that will let me make my life easier, I'm game.

Here's one I can't live without. I use Firefox (Portable or otherwise) for about 90% of my web surfing habit. The other ten percent I have to use Internet Explorer for because the site most likely won't work. My employer's Intranet won't work without it. In FF I can open links in new tabs simply by clicking on them with the middle mouse button (or scroll wheel) . If you do the same in IE, nothing happens. Here's a little Autohotkey script that will let you open links in IE in a new window.

Copy from here:

MButton::
Send, {SHIFTDOWN}
MouseClick, left, , , 1, ,
Send, {SHIFTUP}

End here.


Paste the above three lines of code into Notepad and save the file with an .ahk extension.
In order to run the above you will need to have Autohotkey installed. It is small, free of charge and can be downloaded from here:

Download Autohotkey

P.S. Once Autohotkey is installed you can also convert the .ahk script into it's own exe which won't require Autohotkey to be installed on the same machine anymore.

Printing Powerpoint Handouts with Dark Background

You learn something new at work every day. It is not often that I can say this, but the other day I did.

Problem:

I am putting together a 40-plus-page presentation for my boss to present to the bigshots (CEO, CFO, Prez,...). As a seasoned Powerpoint user, I know that the best presentations are done on a dark (preferrably blue) background with a large light colored (mostly white, yellow, orange) font. This type of combo works great as the strain on the eyes is minimal. However, a problem arises when trying to print the presentation to be used as a handout. Why you ask? Because PP (at least the version we use - which is 2000) will not print white/yellow (or any light color) when printed in true black/white option. All you will get is blank pieces of paper. Printing the background is out of the question also, as this will waste lots and lots of ink.

I asked a lot of people in the office and nobody had a good, short or easy solution. Google didn' t help either.

Anyhow, here's the solution:

1. First make sure you're in the 'Normal' view. On your toolbar click View>Normal.
   
2. Next, look at your presentation in B&W. On the toolbar click View>Black and White.Your presentation should now be in B&W.
3. On your first slide, hit CTRL+A (or click Edit>Select All from the toolbar) You should now have the infamous squares displayed on your screen.
   
4. Right-click on one of the selected objects. You will be presented with several choices including Black and White (right above Custom Animation). Highlight Black and White and several color options will show up. Black is the option that should be checked. If it isn't selected, make it the selection (usually Automatic is selected).

Not much will happen on the screen, but behind the scenes your slide will print in true black and white format, even with light text. No more blank pages.

Apply the above to all the slides that need it. Changing Black to any other color will show you what the printout will look like. Good luck.