Tip #3493 - Document That Problem
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Document
That Problem
Have you ever run
into a problem with your computer that happened to bring up an error message?
I'm sure you have. You're really lucky if you've never had to deal with
that. Well, when that happens, wouldn't it be nice if you could just capture
that error message and send it to someone else so they could help you
figure out what's wrong? It sure would save me quite a few times! Well,
lucky for us all, there's a way. Here's how!
Find the
Print Screen and Alt buttons on your keyboard
and you'll be all set. The PrtScr button is located on the right hand
side of your keyboard right next to the Scroll Lock key. (It's also right
beside the F12 key on most keyboards). If you hit the Alt
and PrtScr keys at the same time, your computer will
take a "snapshot" of the active window (which would be the error
message). Now, if you want to get a shot of the whole screen, push the
Shift key along with the PrtScr key
and you'll have it.
Once you have that
image captured, you can go and paste it in another program and then send
it to your "computer expert" for advice. You can put it in MS
Word, Notepad, Wordpad or even in an e-mail. It's up to you. Once you
have the program you want to put it in open, just hit Ctrl + V
to paste the screenshot (or you may have to go to Edit,
Paste). Along with the image, you can type out a description
of what you were doing when the problem occurred. That will especially
help if you're sending it to someone else to look at. With both the screenshot
and the description, they should be able to lead you in the right direction
to get things fixed. Having all of that information documented helps if
you have to call on some professional tech support as well. You gotta
love that!
~ Erin
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