This useful tip shows you how to capture an error message pop-up or the settings of a program or to capture something showing up on the computer screen as follows;
- Press the Print Screen key, sometimes abbreviated as [Prnt Scrn], typically located somewhere in the upper right side of the keyboard.
- Open the Windows Paint program; for Vista™ & Windows 7™, Left-Click on the lower left Windows™ Icon
and type in Paint and it will appear in the list above. For Windows XP™; Left-Click 
, Left-Click 
, Left-Click 
, Left-Click 
to start it. - Once the Windows Paint Program opens either; Left-Click on
, Left-Click on 
or just Press & Hold the CTRL KEY followed by the V key and release both keys. The Computer Screen Captured in Step 1 will appear, scroll to an area just off the image and Left-Click once to place the image. The image can now be saved to a file. You can also experiment by starting with step 1, skipping step 2 and pasting the image directly to an email message or any other program that accepts images.
[Troubleshoot: On laptops you may need to hold the Function [Fn Key] for the Print Screen key to work.]
And, by holding the [ALT] key before pressing the [Prnt Scrn] the computer will screen capture the active Window. Some keyboards may have a special F Key to press first for this to work. If the active windows is not Maximized to cover the whole computer screen you will notice a difference.
And these screen capture files, when using Paint or another program to save the image, can be placed in an email attachment to send to a friend, to a computer support service, or used just like any other image file. This tip will stop the stress of having to try and write it down worrying if it will disappear before you can!
