Penn State University Libraries - How to Stop a Macro While it is Running

"There's a little 'running man' in my System Tray. Where did that come from?" -- a curious cataloger.

This is what the little "running man" in the System Tray looks like:

If this little "running man" has been sitting in your System Tray for the last three days, then something is wrong. This icon appears every time you run a macro. You probably will never notice it if your macro runs correctly. But if you notice that something isn't doing what it should and you check your System Tray and find the little guy just running away to who knows where, then your macro has basically run off the road and needs to be stopped.

There are two ways of stopping the macro:

• Hold down the Scroll Lock key and press the Pause/Break key. These are located just to the right of your function keys on the keyboard.
• With your mouse, right click on the "running man" icon in the System Tray.
  
  

When the macro stops, you will be informed with a message box like the one below:

What causes a macro to run continuously?

That depends. Here are some possibilities:

• User error: Users are known to make mistakes. Perhaps they ran the macro at the wrong time. Perhaps they placed their cursor somewhere it shouldn't have been before running the macro. You would be surprised at what some users do.
• Infinite loop: A macro programmer may have written a loop inside a macro without an appropriate exit.
• Program interference: Maybe you have a program that likes to pop up every now and then and says hi. If it does this while a macro is running, the macro will most likely not know what is going on and slip into that space between galaxies.
• Asteroidal parking spot: If it isn't one of the three causes above, then most likely an asteroid is attempting to park on the Earth at a very high speed and with no brakes. At this point, you probably should not be concerned about the little "running man" in your System Tray.
  
  

Remember, the more complex your macro is, the more it has a chance to do something you don't want it to do.