How to Take a Screenshot in Windows

A screenshot often proves to be of great help. Especially when you do not know how to explain the error message that pops up now and then on the screen to the technician over the phone. You can easily send the image of the screen to the technician by e-mail to get the right solution for the issue. A screenshot does not just help you in the case of technical issues. Many people even take the screenshot of the order confirmation page after placing their orders online. They keep this screenshot as a proof for the order. You can also take a screenshot of the clip in a movie and save it as wallpaper. So, there are lots of benefits of learning how to take a screenshot in Windows. It’s not at all a difficult task. All you need to know are the few keys that you need to hit at the right time. Here is how you go about it.

Taking screenshots in Windows XP

Wondering how to take a screenshot in Windows XP? It’s a child’s game. First of all, locate the key named ‘print screen’ on your keyword as that’s the key you need to use to take the snap. In almost all the keyboard layouts, you can find this key at the end of the function keys, in the key block above the arrow keys. Once you have located this key, you are all set to take screenshots. As soon as the screen that you want to take a snap of appears on the monitor hit the ‘print screen’ button. Now, the image is stored in your computer’s memory, and it remains there until you turn your computer off. To save and view the image, you need to open the MS Paint or any program that supports image editing and paste the image. To paste the image, you could use the short key Ctrl + V, or you could go to the ‘edit’ section of the menu and click on the ‘paste’ option.

Now, you can see the whole computer screen as an image. It would include everything that you had on the screen at the time you shot the image, including the programs minimized at the task bar, ‘start’ button, the time display, etc. You can use the cropping tool to crop the portion you want and save the image to any location you want. If you want to send the image via e-mail, it’s better to save the image in the JPEG format as this format saves the image in a small size.

How to take a screenshot of Windows 7

Wondering how to take a screenshot in Windows 7? It’s pretty simple. Windows 7 comes bundled with a tool that is called ‘snipping tool’ specially designed to let you take screenshots easily. So, go to the ‘start’ button and launch this tool. Now, click on the ‘new’ tab and choose one of the options – rectangular snip, free form snip, full-screen snip, window snip, etc. The screen will fade as soon as you click on the ‘new’ button. Now, you can draw the area you want to take a snapshot of and once you release the click on your mouse the snap is taken. You can click on the floppy button at the top of the screen to save this image.

Got a Mac? Visit Honeydogs.com for tips on how to take a screenshot on a Mac.