vanderTrick: Real-time Webpages in PowerPoint (2013)

One of the most annoying issues with PowerPoint (and there are many others) is the inability to insert a real-time webpage.  I assume there are security issues involved, but the convenience of direct access to a webpage within a PPT slide is huge.  Opening a browser on top of an active presentation is always a struggle, as you will quickly see when people try to do so.

So, for years I have installed a PowerPoint add-in called LiveWeb by Shyam Pillai; you can find it at http://skp.mvps.org/liveweb.htm.  For the recent Office version you have to use the .ppam extension instead of the .ppa; see details on version downloads on the page.  However, it won't work with Windows 8, 8.1 or 10.  Changes in security and macro setting in Office2013 don't help.  The answer is a registry setting.

The instructions are on the FAQ of LiveWeb, but obliquely at best.
A - PowerPoint 2013 blocks the webbrowser control from being inserted which prevents LiveWeb from functioning normally. Please visit this microsoft page to resolve this issue: Cannot insert certain scriptable ActiveX controls into Office 2013 documents
The last link holds the key, but the alerts sound scary.  Yet, it is the only way I found to make it work.  Run Regedit.exe with administrator privileges.  Follow the exact steps to the ClassID, listed below:

For the Click-to-Run installation of Office 2013, locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\COM Compatibility\<ClassID>

For the MSI installation of Office 2013, locate the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\COM Compatibility\<ClassID>

The relevant ClassID for Web Browser Control is {8856F961-340A-11D0-A96B-00C04FD705A2}; see table on that page.  Follow the instruction above with the correct ClassID and you reach a panel shown in the picture below.  The number is variable (in my case 400), which you change to 0, and exit the Regedit program.

Then, reboot the system from shutdown so the new registry is read.  Reloading LiveWeb.ppam by clicking on that file opens PowerPoint directly and inserts the desired functionality.  You'll be asked to approve ActiveX control in PPT ... and voila.  Took me hours to figure, but it's worth it.

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Minor update: If your computer is managed/updated by a central system than the variable reset may default to the original windows setting.  Just open regedit (with admin privileges) and change back to zero (as above), and exit.

Note: You may find other functions in Shyam's PowerPoint toolbox useful, at http://skp.mvps.org/toolbox/.  This has not been updated in several years, so some registry and macro settings may need to be changed and functionality across PowerPoint installs may be affected.  Use with care.