Screenshot

Alternatively referred to as a screen dump, snapshot, or screen capture, a screen shot or screenshot is an image that is created from a software program or the operating system. Once a screenshot has been captured it can be saved as an image file such as a GIF or JPEG, manipulated, or printed. In the picture to the right, is an example screenshot in the computer game Caesar.
There are several ways to capture a screenshot, often each of these methods depend on what computer operating system you are using and what you intend to take a screenshot of. Below is a listing of all the different ways to create screenshots.

Microsoft Windows users and most other operating systems

The simplest way to take a screenshot is to press the print screen key on the keyboard. This takes a screenshot of the full screen and places it into the computer clipboard. Once in the clipboard, paste that screenshot into Microsoft Paint or other image editor.

Tip: Pressing and holding the ALT key while pressing the print screen key will take a screenshot of the active window, instead of the full screen.

Tip: Microsoft Windows Vista (not home basic) and Windows 7 users can use the Snipping tool to more effectively take screenshots in Windows.

Tip: Windows 8 users can press the Windows key + Print screen to make a screenshot of their screen and have the image automatically saved as screenshot.png in the My Pictures folder.

Apple Mac users

Apple Mac OS users can take a screenshot of their whole screen by pressing Command + Shift + 3. This will create a new TIFF file on your Desktop.

To take a picture of part of the screen press Command + Shift + 4 and than select the area of the screen you want to take a screenshot of.

If you need to copy the image to the clipboard instead of a file press Control + Command + Shift + 3 or 4.

Other software operating systems, programs, or games

If you are unable to successfully create a screenshot using any of the above recommendations, use a third-party software program. Below is a listing of some screenshot programs you may wish to consider.