One way or another, but every person who uses a computer or any other modern gadget, be it a mobile phone, tablet or laptop, eventually faces certain problems: the inability to customize the necessary program; the desire to do away with the annoying error message that pops up on the screen every now and then; incorrect display of your favorite site, and so on. The list of "computer" troubles that cause difficulties for inexperienced users can be continued indefinitely.

In solving the difficulties that have arisen, people are forced to resort to the help of friends, specialists or regulars on thematic forums, for which sometimes just a story about the problem is not enough.

Just for a more effective and efficient solution to the problem, its description, sent to a familiar computer scientist or IT specialists, forum users, should be backed up with a screenshot.

What is a Screenshot?

In fact, the meaning of the word "screenshot" is hidden in its constituent parts: a screen (from the English screen - screen) and a shot (shot - a snapshot). That is, a screenshot is nothing more than a screenshot of the user's device. This means that the image obtained using the screenshot will contain everything the same that the author of the screenshot saw at the time of its creation.

Put your camera down

In most cases, the screenshot is a digital image obtained using the built-in capabilities of the operating system or additional software products. In this case, the screenshot is saved to a specified location on a computer or other device, or simply copied to the clipboard for further use.

It is worth noting that quite often people resort to an "alternative" method of taking a screenshot using external recording devices - for example, a camera or video camera. Screenshots taken in this way are of relatively low quality. Agree, is it stupid to take a screenshot of one phone to another?

It is worth noting that, despite the development of computer technology and general technical progress, many people, due to their ignorance and inexperience, continue to take screenshots of the screens of their devices in this way.

How to take a screenshot of the screen

The number of ways to create screenshots is comparable to the number of operating systems and software platforms, thanks to which a particular user digital device (computer, laptop, netbook, tablet or mobile phone) functions.

All existing operating systems contain similar, but with a number of minor differences, mechanisms for creating screenshots. We will consider this issue in more detail below.

How to take a screenshot on Windows

For the most popular operating system among users - Windows, a huge number of options for creating screenshots are available. Each of them is good in its own way, and the decision, which of them to give preference, entirely falls on the shoulders of the user.

Screenshot in Windows by standard means

The easiest and perhaps most famous way to take screenshots in the operating room Windows system consists in pressing the Print Screen key (sometimes - Prt Scr, PrtSc, etc.) on the keyboard. This key is located on the right side of the keyboard, right above the so-called "arrows".


After pressing this key, the system will copy the full screen image of the computer screen state to the clipboard.

Important! Notebook and netbook owners should press the Print Screen key together with the Fn key in most cases, due to the fewer buttons on laptop keyboards.


The resulting image can be saved using the popular Paint editor. To do this, after pressing the Print Screen key, open the Paint program (Start - All Programs - Accessories - Paint) and click the Paste button at the top of the screen.


Screenshot taken in this way can also be used bypassing Paint. For example, you can insert the resulting image into Microsoft program Office Word or in a VKontakte message.

When you press the Print Screen key in combination with the Alt key, the system will take a screenshot of only the active window. This is useful when there is no need to take a huge and unwieldy screenshot of the entire screen.

Scissors tool

The Scissors program is a tool included in a set of standard Windows applications Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, which allows you to take and save a screenshot of a specific area or the entire screen.

The snapshot obtained using the "Scissors" can be saved in PNG, JPEG, GIF, HTML formats, or simply sent by mail. It is also convenient to create notes on the resulting screenshot using the built-in Pen and Marker tools.


To start the program, go to (Start - All Applications - Accessories - Scissors). For convenience of further use, a running program can be pinned to the taskbar or its shortcut can be placed on the Desktop.

Screenshot in Windows using third-party programs

There are many programs for taking and saving screenshots in the Windows operating system. Let's consider the most popular ones.

The program for accessing cloud storage services from the giant of the domestic IT industry, in addition to its main functionality, allows you to create screenshots of part or the entire screen.

Using built-in functions, the program allows you to add a note immediately after taking a snapshot.

Distinctive feature Yandex.Disk from similar programs is the ability to instantly add a file to the cloud and provide other people with access to it via a link.

LightShot is a free and intuitive program for taking screenshots of your computer or laptop screen. The program allows the user to select an area of ​​the screen to take a screenshot of.


The resulting screenshot can be edited, captions and marks can be added to it. Uploading a screenshot to the cloud is also available to share it with other people.

Joxi

Joxi is another free screenshot tool with the ability to edit and save the received screenshots to the cloud. By functionality This application is very similar to LightShot, however, Joxi has one important function - the ability to share the resulting screenshots on social networks.

How to take a screenshot on Mac OS X

A Mac OS X user can create several types of screenshots using the capabilities of only one operating system:

    Full screen screenshot to your desktop.

    The keyboard shortcut for creating such a screenshot is as follows: Cmd + Shift + 3. The screenshot will be saved on the computer desktop with a name like "Screenshot 2016-04-06 at 17.23.04.png".

    Full screen screenshot to clipboard.

    To create a screenshot of this kind, press the key combination Cmd + Ctrl + Shift + 3. The resulting screenshot will be saved to the clipboard, after which it can be pasted, for example, in any graphics editor.

    Screenshot of a part of the screen.

    A screenshot of a separate part of the screen is perhaps the most popular type of screenshots. After pressing the key combination Cmd + Shift + 4, the user should select the required screen area. The finished screenshot will be available on your desktop.

    Screenshot of the active program window.

    In this case, the finished screenshot will also be saved to the desktop. To create such a screenshot, press the key combination Cmd + Shift + 4 + Space. Not very convenient, don't you agree?

    It is for this reason that the use of third-party software is recommended on Mac OS X as well as on Windows.

Important! The programs Yandex.Disk, LightShot and Joxi are already familiar to the reader are cross-platform, which means they are available in the Mac OS X operating system.

How to take a screenshot in Linux

Essentially, Linux is not a stand-alone operating system. This is a kind of basis on the basis of which dozens of other similar and completely different operating systems, Linux distributions are built. However, very often all distributions use the same shells.

Standard tools There are no screenshots in Linux operating systems, but the working environments provide their own utilities for this purpose. Let's take a look at the most common Linux desktop environments:

    Pressing the Print Screen key in the KDE desktop will open the KSnapshot program, which will allow you to take and save a screenshot to disk or clipboard, as well as transfer it to graphics editor for further processing.

    The GNOME shell allows you to take a screenshot of the entire screen (by pressing the Print Screen key) or part of it (by pressing the Alt + Print Screen combination) using the gnome-screenshot utility. The resulting image can be saved or "dragged" to the desktop or to a graphics editor.

    In Xfce, screenshots are created in a similar way to GNOME and KDE, but with one difference - the xfce4-screenshooter utility is used for these purposes.

    X Window System.

    Important! The user does not need to depend on a utility specific to a particular Linux environment. You can always take a screenshot with third-party programs- LightShot or Joxi, for example.

How to take a screenshot on a mobile device

The most common mobile platforms are:

    Happy owners of iPhone and iPad have the opportunity to take screenshots of the screens of their devices by simultaneously pressing the Home button (center key) and the screen lock button. The screen will blink, a characteristic sound will be emitted, the screenshot is ready for iOS.

    On all modern smartphones and tablets running Android version 4 and above, a screenshot of the screen is created by simultaneously pressing the power and volume down keys.

    However, there are exceptions. For example, on some HTC and Samsung models, hold down the power key and press the Home button.

    On the Windows Phone 8, you can take a screenshot by pressing the power key and the Windows key at the same time. Starting with Windows Phone 8.1, the keyboard shortcut has changed to simultaneously pressing the power button and the volume up button.

    In both cases, the resulting image will be saved in the Photo Gallery.

Also for taking screenshots on mobile devices you can use one of the many applications available in Play Market, App Store and the Windows Store.

Other types of screenshots

How to take a screenshot in the game

Usually, you can use the built-in tools of a computer game or third-party software to create these kinds of screenshots.

You can find out which key is to take a screenshot in the control settings in the game. Usually this is the F12 key or the same Print Screen.

Fraps is the most famous program for taking screenshots and recording videos from games. The program is distinguished by the possibility of fairly fine tuning, which makes the use of this utility very simple and convenient.


Fraps' workspace is not limited to games alone. With this program you can also take a normal full-screen screenshot of your desktop.

How to take a screenshot in the browser

In order to take a screenshot of a page open in Chrome, Opera, Firefox or Yandex.Browser, it is best to use the special LightShot extension for browsers. This extension is free and available for installation on the browser add-ons page.

How to take a screenshot in the video player

Want to snap a still of your favorite movie but don't know how? Very simple. All you need to do is use one of the many video players.

So, for example, to get a freeze frame in Windows Media Player Classic, you need to pause the video at the right moment and click "File - Save Image" or use the Alt + I key combination.

Screenshot creation in VLC Player is provided by pressing "Video - Take Snapshot" or Shift + S combination.

In KMPlayer, right-click on the video and select the "Capture" menu item. You can also use the key combination Ctrl + E (screenshot with the ability to select a name and save location), Ctrl + A (the screenshot will be saved in the default folder) or Ctrl + C (the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard).

How to take a screenshot from a YouTube video

For these purposes, it is most convenient to use the AnyFrame service. To receive frames, you should specify the address of the original video on YouTube, after which the service will upload it and split it into frames with the possibility of their subsequent saving.


How to take a long screenshot

Sometimes people have the opportunity to take a screenshot of an entire page on a particular website. There can be many reasons for this: analysis of a competitor's site, drawing up a technical task for a programmer, revising the design of your own site, and so on. It is recommended to use one of the online services to take long screenshots:

  1. http://www.capturefullpage.com/
  2. http://ctrlq.org/screenshots/
  3. http://snapito.com/

It should be noted that in addition to online versions, the above services exist as extensions for Chrome browsers, Opera and Firefox.

This is a screenshot, a picture of everything that is on your screen. The need to take a screenshot arises quite often. Therefore, this function was built directly into the operating system. In this article, you will learn about which key to take a screenshot on a computer with the Windows operating system.

In the Windows operating system, the PRINT SCREEN key (on some PRT SCN keyboards) is used to take screenshots. This key is located in the upper left of the keyboard, next to the NUM LOCK, CAPS LOCK, and SCROLL LOCK indicators. In order to take a screenshot you just need to press this key.

After pressing the PRINT SCREEN key, the screenshot will be placed on the clipboard. In order to save this screenshot as a picture, you need to open any graphics editor, insert a screenshot into it and save it as a file. For example, you can open the built-in graphics editor Paint. To do this, open the start menu and search for "Paint". After that, the system will find this program, and you can open it.

After opening Paint, click on the "Paste" button or use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-V. After that, your screenshot will appear in Paint.

After saving the picture, you will receive the screenshot you need as a file.

A little trick: When taking a screenshot, you can use the PRINT SCREEN key in conjunction with the ALT key. In this case, the system will only create a screenshot of the active window. Thus, you can only take screenshots of the program with which you are on this moment working.

This approach can save you a lot of time. Since the resulting screenshot does not contain unnecessary information and does not need to be cropped in a graphics editor.

Hello dear readers of the blog site. Everyone or a laptop at one time or another is faced with the question: how to take a screenshot (or in other words, a snapshot - read more) of the screen, for example, so that it can then be sent to someone. Sometimes there are no special programs on the computer that help to implement all this quickly and efficiently.

It doesn't matter, because the built-in capabilities of Windows (even in old XP) are quite enough to accomplish this task. If you use Windows 7, 8 or Vista, then they even have a special built-in program called "Scissors" for this purpose. So be sure to check it out if you read the relevant section of this post.

The second frequently asked question is: how the screen is made on the phone running Android, Ios (this operating system used on iPhone and iPad), Windows Phone (used, for example, on Nokia Lumiya), Sinbine and other OS. If this is your first time, the answers will not be obvious to you.

And, finally, I want to devote some time to describing specialized programs that allow not only to make all conceivable screenshots on a computer and laptop, but also automatically upload them to the Internet so that the one to whom you give the link could see them and, if desired, download them ... Hope it will be interesting.

How to make a screenshot on a computer or laptop in Windows XP, 7 and 8

The most ancient and proven way to take screenshots on a computer is still the key "Print Screen"... It is usually located at the top right of the keyboard, as shown in the following figure:

Truth on different types of keyboards (depending on its size and purpose) instead of "Print Screen" can be written: PrntScrn, PrtSc, PrtScn, PrtScr or something else like that.

On laptops to make a screen, you may need to press not one key, but a combination of them: Fn + Print Screen... The fact is that laptops (especially small) use a truncated keyboard, some of the keys of which are accessible only by holding down an additional Fn key, usually located at the bottom of the keyboard (these firm keys will be written in the same color as the Fn inscription).

When you press the Print Screen key (or Fn + PrtScn in the case of a laptop), a screen of everything that was displayed at that moment on the screen of your computer or laptop will be copied. If you need to take a screenshot of only the currently active program window (on which the focus is currently placed), then you should use the key combination Alt + PrintScreen.

Okay, we can assume that we have learned how to make screenshots. Now is the time to learn how to use them, i.e. save them in the form of graphic files, which can then be sent, for example, to someone, inserted into the site (as I do), or stored in a secluded place. To do this, you will need to paste the screenshots from the clipboard of your computer into any program for working with graphics that you have on your computer or laptop (I can just cite Photoshop, IrfanView, and dozens of others as examples).

If there is nothing like this (you did not install it, or you are working on someone else's computer), then the Windows operating system itself has a built-in free graphic editor Paint. Even if he is not perfect (or rather, even simply miserable), but for the "manifestation" of the screen made will do quite well. So, in order to get Point out of the jungle of the software built into Windows, you will need to do the following manipulations: "Start" - "Programs" - "Standard" - "Paint".

Now in an open graphical editor (Point or some other) select from the top menu "File" - "New" (or press the combination Ctrl + N), and then type the key combination Ctrl + V (or from the top menu select "Edit" - "Insert"). The screenshot copied earlier to the clipboard will be inserted into the editor window, and you can properly process it if necessary (crop, add captions, selections, etc.).

At this stage, we have achieved that we finally saw with our own eyes the screen we made and even managed to mock (process) it, but this is not enough. It will still need to be saved as a graphic file (most often used for this). To do this, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + S, or select from the top menu "File" - "Save As". All that remains is to select the desired format and name the file. Everything. Now you can do whatever your heart desires with it.

How to make screenshots in the "Scissors" program from Windows 7 and 8

There is one obvious drawback in the method of taking screenshots described above - the process itself does not take place explicitly, and for those who have encountered it for the first time, it may seem that after pressing the "Print Screen" button nothing happened at all. However, in Windows Vista, 7 and 8 there is a new tool called "Scissors", which allows you to make screenshots in a much more understandable and visual way. In the same program, they can be processed and saved as a graphic file.

The program "Scissors" lives in the same place as the Point considered just above: "Start" - "Programs" - "Standard" - "Scissors". As a result, you will see a tiny program window, and the rest of the screen will appear to be overexposed.

It is assumed that you are already ready to select the desired area of ​​the screen on your computer or laptop in order to take a screenshot of it. If so, then hold down the left button and select a fragment. If at the moment is not what you wanted to "shoot" is open, then click on the "Create" button in the "Scissors" program window (or click on the Escape) so that it is squeezed out. After that, open what you want to screenshot, and again click on the "Create" button, and then select the required area of ​​the screen.

Default selection of a rectangular area is used, but if you click on the arrow to the right of the "Create" button, you can choose one of four options:

  1. Free form - you are free to circle the desired area with the mouse cursor, or with a graphic pen (if you use it)
  2. Rectangle - used by default
  3. Window - a screen will be made of the window of the program that will be under the mouse cursor (for clarity, it will be surrounded by a red frame)
  4. Entire screen - in this case, the program takes a screenshot of everything that is currently displayed on the screen (with the exception of the mouse cursor)

Than this way better than that When the "Print Screen" button is used, it is because you will immediately see the screen made in the graphic editor built into the "Scissors", where you can paint on something using the three available tools: a pen, a marker and an eraser.

The functionality of the "Scissors" editor does not even reach the Point, but it will be possible to quickly make something hot on the screen (I "got drunk" in this regard, because I use a professional program to work with screenshots, which will be discussed below). In general, when you make the necessary notes, you can safely press the button with the floppy disk to save screen in the form of a graphic file in the Gif, Png or Jpg format, and it is also possible to do this in the form of a separate Html file (it is not very clear, however, for what purpose).

On the program panel there is also a button for sending a screenshot as an attachment by e-mail for example when you took a screenshot to show to someone. There are, again, options for third-party programs for a computer and laptop that allow you to automatically upload the screenshots you have taken to the network and give them access to everyone, but we will talk about them below.

And finally, by choosing "Service" - "Options" from the top menu, you will get access to the poor settings of this program.

In my opinion, the developers of Windows 7 and 8 could really add a bit of functionality to this built-in program, so that it does not look so unpresentable in terms of editing screenshots. ...

Yes, I forgot to say that "Scissors" allows you to make a screen, for example, a drop-down menu. To do this, you will need to open this menu and press the key combination "Ctrl + Print Screen". A screenshot of the desired menu will be taken, which can then be cropped and saved.

Screenshot software for Windows

First, I will tell you a little more about the programs that I use myself, and then I will give a list of other popular applications for working with screens.

One of the most popular software on my computer is. It has a lot of possibilities and can be useful not only for a webmaster, but also just on the farm for solving a number of everyday tasks, one way or another related to taking a screenshot or recording a video from the screen.

The program has powerful functionality both for taking screenshots and for processing them. For example, it easily allows you to take a snapshot of a web page that takes up more than one screen (it takes a long time to scroll to the end).

For this purpose, there is a universal and convenient "All in One" mode of operation, when by pressing the red button or the Print Screen key (when Snagit is running, this key starts working for this application, and not copying the screen to the clipboard) you can easily do whatever you please.

For example, if you press the "Print Screen" button and move the mouse cursor to the application window from which you would like to take a picture, then magic happens. By moving the cursor over different places of the window, you will see that either the entire window, or the menu, or some other internal subdivisions of it will be automatically selected. Those. you do not need to aim accurately to frame the fragment you want to capture.

But you can work in the usual mode, highlighting the desired area while holding the left mouse button, and at the same time you can accurately aim, because a magnifying glass appears under the cursor that increases the place of contact of the cursor with the screen.

With the help of Snagita, you can capture video from the screen, and much more. And already about the ability to process screenshots on your computer or laptop in general, you can add songs. Here it will probably be easiest to just bring a few screenshots so that all the greatness of this creation is clear:



There are a number of other programs that are in about the same row with Snagit:

  1. FastStone Capture- a good screenshot for a laptop or computer, not overloaded with anything superfluous.
  2. Picpick- allows you to quickly make a screenshot of the computer screen or any of its selected areas, including scrolling windows. In terms of functionality, it is very close to Snagit, except that only video cannot capture. The built-in editor allows you to actually process the resulting image professionally.

Programs for removing and uploading screenshots from a computer to the Internet

Clip2net can not only make screenshots and record video from the screen, but also allows you to instantly upload the whole thing to the Internet (the link to the screenshot will be automatically copied to the clipboard and you just have to paste it into an email, website, forum or blog). As a result, you will not need to use your own hosting or one of Yandex Disk, Dropbox, etc.

After taking a screenshot, the program will open a window for editing the captured image. If you do not need this operation, then in the Clip2net settings check the "Immediate download" box. In the editing window, you can use standard tools (inserting labels, selections, arrows):

Clip2net is not unique in its kind, and there are several good ones on the market. programs for quickly sharing screenshots:

  1. Joxi Is a good screenshot creator with the ability to publish instantly. They are edited directly when the desired area of ​​the screen is selected, i.e. without going to the editor window.
  2. Lightshot- allows you to quickly take a screenshot, add notes on it, draw arrows and other shapes with a pencil. When saving on a computer, a file is immediately assigned a unique name, and you can immediately send it to the developer's server and instantly receive a link to it, which is very convenient.
  3. - disgracefully simple and concise to use. There is, as it were, nothing superfluous in it, but everything that is - hits the bull's-eye (in my sophisticated opinion). Actually, the idea, as far as I understood, was just taken from the "Yabloko" (Makovodov) - you activate the key combination and the picture with the screenshot will immediately fall on the desktop.
  4. , which not so long ago learned how to make screenshots and upload them to its own Yandex cloud with a link to them. The program has a pretty convenient graphical editor that allows you to add arrows, frames, lines, etc. to the screenshot. things.
  5. Monosnap Is also a very good service that allows you to shoot, process and upload to the network not only screenshots, but also screencasts (screen captures). It also allows you to organize access to your desktop or webcam in real time.
  6. Skitch- a simple screenshoter and screencaster, but with somewhat poorer functionality than the services described above. However, it allows you to send screenshots from your computer or laptop to Evernote, of which it is a part.
  7. Jet Screenshot- allows you to capture the entire screen, active window or selected area, and then crop the resulting screen, add arrows, circle the desired area or insert an inscription. In the program settings, you can set where the final file will be saved - on a computer (laptop) or on a developer's server with a link to it.

How screenshots are made on the phone (Android, Ios and other platforms)

It's also a pretty interesting question. If everything is more or less clear about a computer or laptop, the problem is not how to do it, but how to do it in the most optimal and convenient way. But a screenshot of the screen of a mobile phone or smartphone - it is a little more difficult to understand how to do it, because there is no special button for this purpose, but a combination of control keys is used, which will be different for different types mobile operating systems.

Let's start with Ios, on which the phones from the Apple campaign ( iPad and iPhone). In order to make a screen, you need to hold down two buttons for a few seconds: "Power on" (sleep / wake up) and "Home". The resulting images are saved in the "Photos" application on your device from the operating system.

How to take a screenshot on Android

The Android operating system has several versions, for which the method of taking screenshots differs. In addition, phone manufacturers sometimes make their own adjustments (for example, on my old Samsung Galaxy S3, a screenshot is taken by sliding the edge of your palm across the screen from left to right). Actually, I will try to summarize the information I have on different types devices:

  1. Android 1 and 2- in devices running on this OS there was no built-in ability to make screenshots, so you had to install third party application helping to do this. The methods for taking screenshots in this case depended on the application you chose.
  2. Android 3.2- starting with this version and until the appearance of the four, to take a screenshot of the screen, it was enough to hold down the "Recent programs" button for a while.
  3. Android 4- a screenshot is created after a short hold of the "Volume Down" and "Power" buttons.
  4. Samsung running Android- most often this phone manufacturer allows you to take screenshots by holding a pair of buttons "Home" and "Power", or "Back" and "Home".
  5. HTC running Android- hold down the Home and Power buttons for a few seconds

The screenshots obtained in this way from the Android phone are saved in the Gallery application, which comes with the OS.

There is also such an operating system for mobile phones, as Windows Phone, on which, for example, quite popular Nokia Lumiya phones work. IN Windows versions Phone 8 to take a screenshot, it will be enough to press the "Power" button (on the right side of the phone) and the "Win" button (at the bottom of the phone screen). But in Windows Phone 8.1, everything has changed a bit - you need to click on "Power" and "Volume up".

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site

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A button on the keyboard called Print Screen is responsible for creating a screenshot of the screen in Windows 7, 10 and earlier versions of the system. Most often, its abbreviated name is indicated - Prt Scr. The key is usually located in the upper center or right side of the keyboard, just behind the F1-F12 row. Before clicking on it, make sure that the screen is displayed exactly as you want to capture it. The most difficult thing for a beginner begins after clicking on Print Screen, because at first it is not clear where the screenshot is saved. But it is the user himself who determines the path of the location of the screenshot, for which you will need to perform a few more steps.


Open any image editor, for the role of which the standard is quite suitable Windows program- MS Paint. The application is in the section standard programs, which can be accessed through the Start menu. Once MS Paint starts, click on the "Edit" menu item and select "Paste." The screenshot of the computer screen you made will immediately appear in the main field of the program. The same action of inserting an image can be performed using the key combination Ctrl + V. Make sure that you are satisfied with the screenshot. Otherwise, you can use the program's tools to fix it, for example, select and crop excess edges or flip the image. After that, go to "File" - "Save as ..", where you need to specify the folder to save the screenshot and click "Save". The image will immediately appear in the selected folder and will be available for further use.


Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the described method to take a screenshot of the screen on a computer using the keyboard. Its advantages are as follows:


  • comparative simplicity and availability;

  • compatibility with all versions of Windows;

  • data security.

Despite the number of actions required to obtain and save a screen, the "Print Screen + Paint" method remains the most accessible and understandable for both beginners and advanced users. To obtain an image, it is not necessary to resort to the help of third-party programs and people, which helps prevent the leakage of personal data and infection of the computer with viruses. However, this method also has disadvantages:


  • a large number of actions;

  • tangible time costs;

  • dependence on the keyboard.

The method of capturing the screen through the Prt Scr key takes some time to get used to, so there is often confusion in the sequence of actions, which is why you have to turn to the help of specialists again and again. In addition, not everyone may have a workable keyboard with the desired key at hand, so every self-respecting user personal computer must figure out additional ways to get the coveted picture.

How to take a screenshot of the computer screen if there is no Print Screen button

Many users are interested in how to take a photo or laptop if the required Print Screen button is missing? For a start, it's still worth looking for it, because, as mentioned earlier, it can be called differently: Prt Scr, PrScr, or even just have a screen icon. The location of the key may also vary depending on the equipment. However, the oldest computers, which are still installed in many Russian offices, do not really have a Print Screen button. In this case, they will come to the rescue special programs, with which you can easily take a screenshot of the screen on your computer or. Also, applications will be an excellent solution for those who just want to reduce the time for creating and saving a screen.


There is a great variety of all kinds of programs for creating a screenshot, but it is best to immediately pay attention to the simplest and free applications, which, at the same time, have long proven themselves well among ordinary users. If you try to install the first program that comes across the network, there is a great risk of simply not understanding all of its functions, or, even worse, picking up a virus from the site on which the cybercriminals operate. So, one of best apps Lightshot is considered to be in its own way. The program is quickly installed and integrated into the system, starting to run when it starts. In the settings, you can assign any key to take a screenshot, while after pressing it, the image is immediately saved to a user-friendly folder. Thus, it is created in just one step.


You can use the closest analogue of Lightshot - the "Screenshot" program, which has similar functionality, and which also allows you to take a screenshot of the screen in one action. Snagit and Clip2net are quite good in terms of convenience, which also have their own image editor, which allows you to quickly and easily process the resulting screen. However, there are certain drawbacks to the way you can take screenshots using apps:


  • not compatible with all versions of Windows;

  • deterioration in system performance;

  • time spent on development.

Alas, most programs do not actually work on the oldest computers, and if installed, they significantly slow down the system with a weak hardware configuration. In addition, it will take some time to learn all the functions of the program and remember how to use it. However, in the future, the process of creating screenshots can be simplified tenfold. Thus, each user decides in his own way which method suits him best. If you rarely have to take a screenshot of the screen on your computer, it will be enough to remember the "Prt Scr + Paint" procedure, but if such a need arises every day, you should think about choosing a suitable program for convenience.