• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Tech Solutions / Simple Tip: How to Take a Screenshot

Simple Tip: How to Take a Screenshot

2009-11-12 by Jason

Screenshots are just images of what is displaying on your monitor. These images can be very helpful for capturing error messages or other things on your computer you’d like to record. No special screenshot taking programs are required despite what many will try to convince you of. It’s a function built into Windows.

There are two ways to take a screenshot. One will take a picture and include everything you can see on the monitor the other will take a picture of only the active window (the top most window that you have actively selected/you’ve clicked on most recently).

Here is a screenshot of my desktop to better explain the Active Window:

screenshots

The entire image was taken by pressing the Print Screen button and then pasted into Paint.NET and saved. This is my entire desktop.

The Notepad with the red border is the active window. You can tell because the title bar (top of the window) is blue. If you pressed Alt+Print Screen, you would get a screenshot of just this window and it would look like this:

activewindow

Back to the first image, the Notepad window with the green border is an inactive window. Until you click on it or minimize/close the current active window, it will continue to be the inactive window and there is no way to get a screenshot of just this window without selecting it first.

1. Get whatever you want to take a picture of viewable on the screen.
2. Press the Prt Scr button to take a picture of the entire screen or hold Alt and press Prt Scr to take the active window.
3. This will take the image and put it on your Clipboard (where things go temporarily whenever you copy/paste or cut/paste). Note: If you copy/paste anything or take another screenshot, it will overwrite the image that you just took with no way to retrieve the original image. Vice versa is true as well. If you cut/paste something to move it and then take a screenshot, the cut/paste object will be overwritten.
4. Open an image editing program like Paint. Then go to Edit, Paste.
5. Save your image or modify it as needed.

Paint or any other image program will work. I highly recommend Paint.NET. It’s free and more comparable to Photoshop than anything else.

If you want a graphics program that specializes in taking screenshots, I recommend: Hardcopy.

Filed Under: Tech Solutions

Trending

  • How to choose a good host for your website
    In Infographics
  • View an Object’s Hierarchy in Active Directory
    In System Administration, Tech Solutions
  • Preorder ‘The Car Hacker’s Handbook’
    In Hardware, Gadgets, and Products, Security and Privacy

Latest Media Posts

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How to ‘Unblock’ multiple files at a time with PowerShell How to 'Unblock' multiple files at a time with PowerShell
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • SOLVED: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” SOLVED: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month Configure Outlook to recurring appointments for the last weekday of the month
  • Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin Creating and editing views in phpMyAdmin
  • 3d rendering circuit cloud for cloud computing technology Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Printer printing document wirelessly from mobile phone or smartphone wifi connection vector flat cartoon illustration, file air print on fax or ink jet via cellphone bluetooth modern design Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022
  • 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account 6 Best Ways to Protect Your Business Account
  • How to download videos from Instagram How to download videos from Instagram
Ajax spinner

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Recent Posts

  • Build and Deploy a Modern Web 3.0 Blockchain App in 2022
  • Telecom Application Development: When to Outsource
  • Why Your Business Needs Online Fax Services In 2022

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2022 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in