A picture is worth a thousand words. Nowhere is that more important than online. A screen shot can provide more information and a clearer indication of what issues another member may have. Depending on the Operating System, you can accomplish creating a screen shot a few ways:
- Whenever there is something that you want others to view on your computer, hit the "Prt Scr" key. This key is normally located near the "F10" key.
- Open Microsoft Paint. To get to this application, click Start -> Accessories -> Paint OR Start -> Run -> type: mspaint
- When the application opens, click Edit -> Paste
- You can then crop the image down to the desired area. Use the Rectangle or Star selector tools or grab the tiny boxes on the corners and edges of the canvas.
- After the screen shot has been cropped, click File -> Save
- Ensure the Save As type is JPEG or PNG for smaller file sizes. Bitmap (.BMP) file sizes are much larger and unnecessary when asking for online assistance.
- Save the file to your Desktop
- Whenever there is something that you want others to view on your computer, activate the Snipping Tool (Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Snipping Tool)
- Click New and capture the portion of the screen you want to save
- The default Save As window appears. Save the snippet to your Desktop, and make sure it's a JPEG or PNG file type.
After you've got the screen shot saved, you want to upload it to the Internet and then link to it in your post.
- Use a free image hosting website like http://imageshack.us/
- Use the website's Browse tool to find the screen shot on your computer, then click the "Upload Now" button.
- After a few moments (or minutes depending on your Internet connection speed), a page will display with various links to "Share Your Image"
- Find the "Direct Link" and copy it. It will look something like: http://img1.imageshack.us/img1/1234/1234567.png
- Use BBCode to create a URL to your screen shot or to display an image
