Monitoring what happens on your computer can be incredibly useful, whether you’re trying to track your productivity, analyze how you spend your time, or even ensure that certain applications are being used efficiently. Python makes this task approachable and powerful by allowing you to interact directly with the Windows operating system. Let’s dive into the concepts and build a monitoring tool from scratch, step by step, using the interactive Python terminal.
Step 1: Getting the Active Window Title
The first thing we want to do is identify the active window—that is, the window currently in focus on your screen. We’ll use the pywin32 library, which provides a direct interface with Windows APIs. Start by installing the necessary package: