(4) If it is a new installation, clicking the Yes button on the UAC dialog will give you this: Sidebar: If you're wondering how I captured the UAC dialog box, see my EE article, How to disable the secure desktop when User Account Control (UAC) prompts for elevation. (3) If you have UAC on, you will see this: For example, you may see something like this: The exact dialog that you get from this depends on your browser and its settings. (2) As a new user, click the Download Current Version button. (1) Visit the AutoHotkey site and click the Download button: At the time of publishing the most recent update to this article, here are the steps: With a decent computer and Internet connection, the download and installation of AutoHotkey should take less than a minute.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of the language, I recommend The AutoHotkey Foundation and Our History pages at its website and the Wikipedia AutoHotkey article. AutoHotkey started out as a keyboard shortcuts and mouse clicks/movements capability (hence, 'Hotkey' in the name), but has been enhanced into a robust programming/scripting language.ĪutoHotkey itself has forked several times, with the release at considered by devotees of the language to be the active/primary branch. It is a fork of the popular AutoIt language. As I was about to write another article with an AutoHotkey program and the how-to-download-and-install information, I decided it would be better to publish a more comprehensive write-up on the process, including some background on the language.ĪutoHotkey is a free (in all senses of the word), open source product, published under the GNU GPL (General Public License, Version 2, June 1991). I have also answered many questions with a reference to AutoHotkey as a component of the solution. Each of those articles and videos has brief information describing where to download the product and how to install it. I have published numerous articles and five-minute video Micro Tutorials here at Experts Exchange that present programs/scripts written in a language called AutoHotkey.

Autohotkey python