From Newsgroup: alt.privacy
Aloha is a free VPN browser but it's crippleware in that the VPN shuts off randomly, necessitating an always running underlying proxy or VPN.
To combat the fact the free VPN randomly shuts off (by design), this AutoHotkey script makes the Aloha browser actually immensely more useable.
I wrote this script to first launch the Aloha VPN Browser, and, if you have "On Startup" URLs, it waits for its window, then it continuously monitors
the VPN shield icon inside that browser (every half second) and clicks it
only when the VPN shield is detected as gray (off) so the VPN remains
enabled (blue) at all times.
If perchance the Aloha browser window is covered over by another window,
the script forces a tiny repaint of the Aloha window before sampling pixel colors again.
I also added follow-me code if the browser window is resized or moved (even
if it's moved to another monitor) by using client-relative coordinates so
it works across monitors and window positions, and exits gracefully when
the Aloha browser process closes.
Clicks are implemented to avoid stealing focus or visibly moving the mouse
and the script preserves mouse position around its clicks.
The script originally included a clear-browsing-data action in earlier versions but the current version removed that click to simplify behavior.
<aloha://settings/clearBrowserData>
The script forces a tiny visual change (transparency toggle) to prompt
Aloha to repaint shield pixels when the window is unfocused so pixel
sampling remains accurate.
In summary, this AHK script will prevent Aloha VPN dropouts using an automatic shield-re-enable AHK script
(which runs silently in the bg w/o stealing focus or moving the mouse.)
It wasn't easy to write. But here it is all done and working for you!
Please improve, of course, so everyone benefits from every post you make.
; C:\data\sys\ahk\alohavpn.ahk
; This is alohavpn.ahk v1.7
; This script automatically launches the Aloha VPN Browser,
; presses a button to clear browsing data, and continuously
; monitors the VPN shield icon by clicking it only if it's off
; (gray) to ensure the VPN stays enabled (blue) even if the
; browser window isn't the active window or if it's behind others.
; Behavior:
; 1) Opens Aloha browser
; 2) Clicks VPN (gray) shield icon to enable it (blue);
; 3) Then periodically checks the shield x:y location 140:53;
; 4) If the shield is gray (off), click it; if blue (on), do nothing.
; Notes:
; Limit on comment line length is .......................................
; Coordinates are relative to the Aloha window (CoordMode "Window").
; The origin (0,0) is the window top-left corner (incl title/borders).
; The X increases to the right; the Y increases downward.
; Works regardless of monitor the window is on or where it's moved.
; Works regardless of window size.
; Works on the window regardless if it's active (current focus) or not.
; Use Window Spy to confirm pixel colors and window-relative coordinates.
; Clicks use ControlClick so focus isn't stolen & the mouse doesn't move.
; Versions
; v1.0 20250910 59 lines
; Launches the freeware Aloha VPN Browser [Version 4.9.0.0 (64-bit)]
; Set the shortcut TARGET = C:\data\sys\ahk\aloha_vpn.ahk
; This script runs Aloha which opens to clearBrowserData
; <aloha://settings/clearBrowserData>
; This script taps the "Clear data" button on bottom right
; Then it taps the VPN shield at top to turn the shield on automatically
; v1.1 20251016 68 lines
; Taps the shield icon every 30 seconds
; The probem is that it toggles it off if it had been toggled on
; v1.2 20251016 75 lines
; Use "C:\Program Files\AutoHotkey\WindowSpy.ahk" to get the color
; Click 601, 68 ; this is in the blue/gray part (5895F6/BEBEC4)
; v1.3 20251016 142 lines
; If gray, tap it. If blue, don't tap it.
; Colors from Window Spy (hex RRGGBB)
; blueHex := 0x5895F6
; grayHex := 0xBEBEC4
; tolerance := 30 ; adjust if needed (0-441)
; ControlClick without moving the visible mouse (no flicker)
; v1.4 20251016 148 lines
; Changed the time period from 30 seconds to 1 second
; 30 seconds = 30000, 1 second = 1000
; v1.5 20251016 127 lines
; Cleaned up comments
; v1.6 20251016 161 lines
; Changed hard-coded path to aloha.exe to be independent of user
; Added detection of run failure for a more robust watcher
; v1.7 20251017 175 lines
; Removed the clear-cookies click to simplify the script.
; Added the ability to monitor the shield no matter where it is.
; Changed x:y coordinates relative to the screen top-left origin
; to x:y (140:53) coordinates relative to the window top-left origin.
; Screen: 602, 67, Window: 140, 53
; No matter where the Aloha window is on the monitor, the shield
; icon will always be at (140,53) relative to the window's origin.
; Client: 132, 53 (default) (i.e., main monitor)
; Color: 5895F6 (Red=58 Green=95 Blue=F6) (blue)
; Active windows position
; Screen: x: 462 y: 14 w: 910 h: 1060
; Client: x: 470 y: 14 w: 894 h: 1052
; The shield icon is always (139,54) relative to window origin
; (or (131,54) in client coordinates).
; Aloha wasn't repainting shield icon when the window is unfocused.
; so we needed to force a tiny "change" in aloha to repaint pixels.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Step 1: Launch Aloha VPN Browser and capture its PID
; The new instance replaces older running instances sans prompting.
#SingleInstance Force
; Use path to aloha which is independent of the user
localAppData := EnvGet("LOCALAPPDATA")
exePath := localAppData . "\Aloha Mobile\Aloha\Application\aloha.exe"
if !FileExist(exePath) {
MsgBox "Aloha executable not found:" "'n" exePath
ExitApp
}
; Start the exe (don't treat Run's return as authoritative)
Run(exePath)
; Wait up to 10 seconds for the Aloha window to appear, then get its PID
if !WinWait("ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1", , 10) {
MsgBox "Aloha started but no window appeared within 10s. Check that it launched correctly."
ExitApp
}
; Get the PID of the window we just waited for
appPid := WinGetPID("ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1")
if !appPid {
MsgBox "Could not determine Aloha PID after launch."
ExitApp
}
; Step 2: Wait for the browser window and allow page to render
; WinWait "ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1",, 15
Sleep 3000
; Step 3: Use client-relative coordinates for mouse and pixel sampling
CoordMode "Mouse", "Client"
CoordMode "Pixel", "Client"
; Step 5: Shield icon position (stable across monitors)
buttonX := 131
buttonY := 55
; Step 6: Periodically ensure the shield is ON (click only when gray)
intervalMs := 500 ; 500 ms = 0.5 seconds
; Colors from Window Spy (hex RRGGBB)
blueHex := 0x5895F6 ; blue (ON)
grayHex := 0xBEBEC4 ; gray (OFF)
tolerance := 30 ; color distance tolerance (increase if needed)
; Step 7: Use the launched PID in the watcher and start timers
SetTimer(ClickIfGray, intervalMs)
SetTimer(CheckAppRunning, 1000)
Return
; --- Functions ---
ClickIfGray(*) {
global buttonX, buttonY, grayHex, tolerance, appPid
hwnd := WinExist("ahk_pid " appPid)
if !hwnd
return
; Force a repaint by toggling transparency (no visible bounce)
WinSetTransparent(254, "ahk_id " hwnd)
WinSetTransparent("OFF", "ahk_id " hwnd)
; Sample a 3x3 area around the shield pixel (client-relative)
total := 0
count := 0
for dx in [-1, 0, 1] {
for dy in [-1, 0, 1] {
x := buttonX + dx
y := buttonY + dy
color := PixelGetColor(x, y, "RGB")
total += color
count += 1
}
}
avgColor := Round(total / count)
; Show the sampled color value in a tooltip (for debugging)
; ToolTip "Sampled color: " avgColor
; 16315633 in hex = 0xF8F8F1 is a light gray-white shade.
; 5937144 in hex = 0x5A8A88 is a teal-blue shade.
ToolTip "Sampled color: " Format("0x{:06X}", avgColor)
if IsColorClose(avgColor, grayHex, tolerance) {
MouseGetPos(&oldX, &oldY)
MouseMove(buttonX, buttonY, 0)
Click
MouseMove(oldX, oldY, 0)
}
}
IsColorClose(c1, c2, tol) {
r1 := (c1 >> 16) & 0xFF
g1 := (c1 >> 8) & 0xFF
b1 := (c1) & 0xFF
r2 := (c2 >> 16) & 0xFF
g2 := (c2 >> 8) & 0xFF
b2 := (c2) & 0xFF
dist := Sqrt((r1 - r2)**2 + (g1 - g2)**2 + (b1 - b2)**2)
return dist <= tol
}
CheckAppRunning(*) {
global appPid
if !WinExist("ahk_pid " appPid) {
SetTimer(ClickIfGray, 0)
SetTimer(CheckAppRunning, 0)
ExitApp
}
}
; End of C:\data\sys\ahk\alohavpn.ahk
--
I go to trouble and time and effort to write my Usenet posts because I'm
kind hearted enough to care that everyone gets excellent researched data.
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