Patent ID: 8176433

Claim:
A method for monitoring a computer program window, comprising: defining an area of a computer program window; computing a hash value for the defined area; storing the hash value; recomputing said hash value for the defined area after a predetermined time period; comparing the stored hash value with the recomputed hash value; overwriting the stored hash value with the recomputed hash value, if the stored hash value and the recomputed hash value are different; generating a notification if the stored hash value and the recomputed hash value are different, the notification signaling a change in the area of the computer program window; determining whether the area of the computer program window has been minimized, and in response to determining that the area of the computer program window has been minimized, controlling an application associated with the area of the computer program window to repaint its content to an off-screen buffer; and repeating the steps of recomputing, comparing, overwriting, and generating, and determining periodically; wherein the step of generating a notification includes executing a selected action; wherein the method further including allowing a user to specify the selection action and storing said selected action and providing a graphical user interface for allowing a user to select the area of a computer program window and identify the selected action to execute, wherein the method is performed for a plurality of areas at the same time, and each area defined is identified by a unique identifier.