How to Take a Snapshot of a Windows Computer Screen

You can take a "snapshot" of a Windows computer screen and then turn it into a graphic using a graphics software application. This is useful for reproducing a Web page in print or for documenting an error message for technical support.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop
• Paint Shop Pro

1. Set up your computer to display the screen that you want to capture. For example, if you want to take a picture of your Web site, open your home page in the browser that you normally use.

2. Press the Print Screen button on your keyboard. This captures a "snapshot" on the Clipboard.

3. Open a graphics program, such as MS Paint.

4. Open a new file.

5. Paste the contents of the Clipboard into your document (Ctrl+V).

6. Your file now contains an image of the screen that you captured. Name your file and save it in the graphics format of your choice.

Tips & Warnings

• Your graphics software allows you to edit, resize or modify the screen capture.

• The original image will be large - in fact, it will be the same size as your computer screen. You may want to resize it.