Whether you want to save some information quickly, get an idea of what a remote user is viewing on their computer or need to record an image for a presentation, there are a number of ways to record a snapshot of exactly what you see on a PC.
To Capture Exactly What Is on Your Screen
Hold the ALT button, and then press the Print Screen button. This places the image of your screen on your clipboard to be pasted into a new file or e-mail.
To Capture Only the Active Application
Hold the CTRL button, and then press the Print Screen button. This places the image of your active application only on your clipboard to be pasted into a new file or e-mail.
To Capture a More Selective Area
The Snipping Tool in Windows Vista will allow you to select exactly what you want to record off the screen. It makes it easier to save to a file and e-mail as well. The easiest way to find it is to enter “snip” in the Start Menu’s search bar.
To Do Even More
TechSmith’s SnagIt has been the leading screen capture tool for some time. However, who likes paying for software? Not me! Fortunately, they have a relatively new and free product called Jing. It makes it easy to take a screenshot (or movie) of your work on your PC.
Not only does it save images and video (in the flash format), it can record any audio from your microphone. Afterward, it saves the file to your PC or automatically uploads it to TechSmith’s screencast.com Web site. You simply e-mail the link it provides to your video or use the built-in blogging features. This is perfect for demonstrating how to do something on your computer or recording PC gaming exploits.
Simple image screenshots can be automatically tied to your flickr account as well. You can view my first movie here. It is a video of me finishing this blog post.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I have been using Jing for a while and find it is easy to use and has many good features. The price is right, it`s free.
August 9th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Camtasia Studio Alternative: Jing Project, Totally Free!…
The free alternative is Jing Project and people can use it on Mac or Windows. Personally, I feel that Jing Project is a stripped-down version of Camtasia Studio and SnagIt. You can do both screen capturing and screen recording with Jing Project but som…