Take a Picture of Your Screen

'This is a photo of my desktop, known as a screen shot.  Knowing how to do this can be key for those pesky error messages and other anomolies in tech life that cause alarm and make you want to ask for a friends advice. You know those boxes that pop up with messages like “imminent failure” and “contact your network administrator.”  Today's tip is about the fast method in Windows OS to share those error messages with others who might not believe what you’re saying.  Just take a "screen shot" and email it to them.  Here’s how it’s done: 

Simply press the Print Scrn/SysRq  in the upper right hand corner of your keyboard:

Next press the Start menu button on the keyboard:

Now without clicking on anything else simply type the word "PAINT" then press the enter key.  - What should occur is the MS paint program should open right up for you.  If this doesn't occur you did something wrong - add no extra steps to these instructions, they are - very simple.  At this point you've pressed 2 keys and written the word paint, then hit the enter key - 

Hold down CTRL and tap the V key - this is Paste and the screen shot will appear.  That's it that simple!