What are some common pitfalls to avoid when working with the Windows API in PHP, and how can they be mitigated or addressed proactively?

Issue: One common pitfall when working with the Windows API in PHP is not properly handling errors or checking for return values. This can lead to unexpected behavior or crashes in your application. To mitigate this, always check the return values of Windows API functions and handle errors accordingly.

// Example of checking return value and handling error
$handle = fopen('file.txt', 'r');
if ($handle === false) {
    die('Error opening file');
}
```

Issue: Another common pitfall is not sanitizing input data before passing it to Windows API functions. This can lead to security vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows or injection attacks. To address this, always validate and sanitize input data before using it in Windows API calls.

```php
// Example of sanitizing input data
$userInput = $_POST['user_input'];
$cleanInput = filter_var($userInput, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);