How to take a Screenshot in Microsoft Windows

Learn how to take screenshots of your internal computer problems, so that the people at Microsoft and other troubleshooting services can help you solve your problems much faster and more efficiently. It is also just fun to take screenshots and butcher your screen or set up "ghost desktops" to mess with your parents or friends.

Steps

In Windows XP

          Press the "Prnt Scrn" button.

          Open Microsoft Paint. To do this, click Start > All Programs > Accessories > Paint. Click inside the white part of the screen.

1. Go to the Edit menu and click Paste or you can press and hold "Ctrl" and tap V. Then you may crop if you like.
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
   
   
2. Click File > Save As. In the box that pops up, change the "Save As Type" to PNG or JPG. Type in a filename for your image. Choose a place to save, like the Desktop, and click save.
   
   
   
   

   
   
   
   
   
3. You have now successfully taken a screenshot! If you want to send your image to somebody, simply attach the .png file that you just saved to an email and send it along. Alternatively, you can upload it onto the internet by visiting a site like TinyPic.com and uploading it.

In Windows Vista

1. In Windows Vista (except in Home Basic), there is a tool called the Snipping Tool.
   
   
   • To open it, click on the start menu, type snip, then hit enter (the latest version of Windows Vista updates the search results as you type each letter).
   
   
   
2. Click on Snipping Tool.
3. The Snipping Tool opens, and a white mask is applied on the screen. In the drop-down menu for the 'New' button, choose from a free-form snip, rectangular snip, window snip, or full-screen snip.
4. In free-form snip mode, draw around the area you want to be captured. Drag a rectangle in rectangular snip mode. For window snip mode, select the window you want to capture. In full-screen mode, just selecting it from the drop-down menu makes the capture.
5. The snipped image is then opened within the Snipping Tool, but is also copied to the Windows clipboard for use in other applications.

Tips

• If you want to take screenshot of just the active window (the one that's most on top and activated), press "Alt - Print Screen". This means, you should hold down the Alt key and then press the Print Screen key.
• A quicker way of accessing Microsoft Paint can be achieved by pressing the Windows key (Between "Ctrl" and "Alt" on many keyboards") and "R", then typing 'mspaint' in the box that appears.
• Many laptops, to conserve keyboard space, have mapped the "PrtSc" key as a primary or secondary function on a shared key. To take a screenshot with "PrtSc" mapped to a key as a secondary function, you will need to locate your notebook's function key (usu. labeled "Fn" and located along the bottom row) and engage it before touching "PrtSc."
• Depending on your version of Windows, Paint will allow you to save the screenshot in different formats.
  
  
  • BMP is the default option (a lossless uncompressed format)
  • PNG is a lossless compressed format
  • JPEG is a lossy, compressed image format, specifically developed for photographic images. For these images, it allows for the smallest file size. When used for non-photographic images, file size is larger than e.g. PNG and GIF and the image has a lower quality.
  • GIF is good for applications windows with a limited number of colors
  
  
  
• If you plan on putting your screenshot on a website, be sure it does not exceed a suggested size limit
  
  
  
  

  
  

  An unsuccessful attempt.
  
  
  
  
• There are a number of free programs that can make taking a screenshot easier like:
  
  
  • MWSnap is a free program that can be used to capture a screen very nicely. It has many options for saving the results of the screenshot. The program is available at http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
  • ScreenHunter is another useful (free) utility. ScreenHunter allows you to capture the entire screen, the active window, or a specific area you choose by dragging the pointer. It can run in the background and be called at will with a hot-key. It saves in .bmp, .gif or .jpg formats.
  • Alternatively use Screenshoter. It's able to capture the whole screen or a specified area by pressing the "Prnt Scrn" key. After this the screenshot will be directly saved as a .bmp, .png or .jpg image. Get this freeware here: www.inspire-soft.net (Author's page)
  
  
  
• If you are using a Macbook or any other laptop which doesn't have the "Prnt Scrn" key, you can press apple+shift+4 for a part-screen, and apple+shift+3

• It is also possible to pause an internet video and make a screenshot of it. In this way you can create a still from a video, e.g. from youtube.
  
  
  • As a rule your video player allows to make the video full screen and high quality, and to stop at the frame you want.
  • This capturing method may not work if you play the video from version 11 or newer from Windows Media Player.
  
  

Warnings

• Saving a screenshot in some file types (such as bitmaps) will result in a very large file.
• Some people will be annoyed if you email them a large attachment, remember to crop and convert.

source : www.wikihow.com