PC Tip - What to do if you don't have a Mac and want Screen Shots

Okay, so you don't have a Mac but you want those groovy screen shots I mentioned in the last blog entry?  You'll have to get some free software so you can "grab" images from your computer screen. "Easy Capture" software can be downloaded for free via PC World Magazine at  www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,68497-order,1-page,1/description.html

Or, do this:

In Windows, taking a screen shot is done by pressing the Print Screen key on your keyboard. On most standard keyboards, it is found to the right of the F12 key in the upper right hand portion of the keyboard. When this key is pressed, Windows takes a snapshot of the current contents of the screen and saves it to the Windows Clipboard.

If you want to take a screen shot of just the active window, make sure to click once on the window you are working with, then hold down the Alt key and press Print Screen. This will send the contents of the active window to the Clipboard.

You will then need to save the image to an image editor. You can use any software that you feel comfortable with. If you don't have an image editor, you can find Microsoft Paint installed on almost every computer that runs Windows. It is usually available from the Start menu by clicking START, Programs, Accessories, Paint.

Once you've opened your image editor, click on the Edit menu and choose Paste. The Screen Shot will be dropped into the image editor for you to save. Click on the File menu, and then choose Save to save it as a file in the graphics format of your choice. The best file type to use for saving screen shots is .jpg (if your software allows it).

Or, just get yourself a Mac.  We run both PC's and Mac's here, love the Mac computers, tolerate the PC's and only use them when we have to, and that's rare.  I run Windows on my Mac (yes I do and it works fine) and that covers just about all the bases I need.