Do window monitoring tools exist?

Question

I'd like to find a tool that would monitor my windows (specifically across multiple virtual desktops), and popup an alert in, say, my currrent desktop whenever anything happens in another window anywhere (new mail in Outlook? New chat in FF gmail tab? File content auto-updating in NPP? etc etc).

The objective is to save cycling through all windows periodically to see if something has happened, and instead be notified of changes as they happen.

Do you know anything like this? (Freeware/Open-Source + Portable is a bonus, but I will gladly consider all options...

Thanks!

Answer 1

Sounds alot like you are looking for something like Growl. However that is a OS X application. There is a windows off-shoot which began a short time ago. However, I am not sure about running it in a client/server fashion across multiple machines. But maybe the info will be a jumping off point?

UPDATE - I did a little mote reading, and directly from Growl for Windows website:

Another option - growlnotify & GNTP libraries

If your favorite application doesn't support Growl yet but does offer an API, you can use the growlnotify command line script or one of the available GNTP libraries to send notifications. growlnotify

Send a Growl notification to a local or remote host via the command line

Download growlnotify>

Check out growlnotify at this link

Answer 2

At the risk of addressing your problem rather than your question - in your situation, I'd probably grab another video card & monitor so I could keep tabs on that host desktop while working on the virtual.