Ever tried to automate a program, opened Window Spy, and got… nothing useful?
No control names. No text. Just one big window with a class name nobody can pronounce.
That’s not you doing it wrong. Windows programs are built with a LOT of different technologies:
- Classic Win32 controls
- UI Automation
- The old Accessibility (Acc) layer
- COM
- Custom-drawn screens
Each one needs a different spy. And each spy only sees its own slice.
Here’s the thing: picking the right spy is half the battle.
Pick the wrong one and you can burn an afternoon convinced the program can’t be automated.
How about you? Have you ever given up on a program because the spy came up empty?
That’s exactly why we built Ultimate Spy. It’s every inspection tool we use, in one launcher, written in AutoHotkey v2. 😊
Watch the walkthrough on YouTube
Start With the Discovery Tool
When you launch Ultimate Spy, it opens the Discovery Tool first.
Point it at the program you want to automate. It tells you which technologies that window supports and ranks them, best option first.
It also warns you about the two biggest reasons automation silently fails:
- The window needs admin mode
- It’s a virtual window (remote desktop, a virtual machine, Citrix, or a Zoom or Teams share)
Stuck anyway? One button launches the Windows Steps Recorder, so you can capture what you’re doing and get help.
Think of it as the Secret Decoder Ring. Once you know what you’re dealing with, you know which spy to grab next.
14 Spies, One Dropdown
Ultimate Spy docks a small dropdown right under whichever tool is open.
Pick another tool and it swaps over, in the same spot on your screen.
Little icons show which technology each tool covers, so you can match it to what the Discovery Tool told you.
| When the program uses… | Reach for |
|---|---|
| Classic Win32 windows and controls | The-Automator Spy, SimpleSpy, WinSpy (also shows window messages), Win32 Control Syntax Writer |
| Old-style menus | Old Menu Syntax Writer |
| Modern apps and browsers (UI Automation) | UIA Viewer, UIA Tree Inspector |
| Accessibility (Acc / MSAA) | Acc Viewer |
| COM (Excel, Word, Outlook and friends) | COM Inspector, CLSID Registry Scanner |
| Nothing else works (custom-drawn screens) | FindText for image and text search, Color Picker for pixel colors |
| You just want the clicks recorded | ClickGrabber writes the AutoHotkey v2 code for you |
See Which Windows Run as Admin
A script that isn’t running as admin can’t see inside a program that is. It just quietly gets nothing back.
So Ultimate Spy puts a colored border around the window you’re looking at:
- Green: a normal program
- Red: it’s running as admin
On startup it asks whether to run in admin mode. Tick Do not ask again if you always want the same answer.
The dropdown itself turns red when Ultimate Spy runs as admin, so you always know which mode you’re in.
Changed your mind about admin mode? Use Reset Settings in the tray menu.
What’s in the Download
- The Ultimate Spy launcher plus all 14 tools, as AutoHotkey v2 source you can read and learn from
- Every library they need, already in the Inc folder
- Version 1.5.0 (updated 2026/06/03)
Unzip it anywhere, keep the Inc folder next to Ultimate Spy.ahk, and double-click to run.
Get Ultimate Spy
Ultimate Spy is $29.99.
One thing I’ve learned: almost every program CAN be automated. You just have to look at it with the right tool.
Start with the Discovery Tool, follow where it points, and stop guessing. 🚀
Joe
