[Adama]

Hi, everybody, I have been forgetting to ask this question because I found a workaround this issue.


Here's the problem: Every time that I've tried to do a screen capture with the "Insert prt sc" key, it has never worked for me. That's why I had to learn to use the Snipping Tool as a workaround.

This is a Compaq Presario laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium as my OS.

Do you guys think this is a hardware problem? Or maybe I'm just doing something wrong?

[mphenterprises]

Hi Adama. Are you pushing the Insert key and the Prt Scr key? If so, I do not believe that is the right combination to create a screen shot. You should use either:

- Shift + "Prt Scr"

OR

- Ctrl + "Prt Scr"




Here is a Document on Screen Shots for Windows XP. I think the same procedure can be applied with Vista, I just have not had a chance to experiment with that as of yet. The Snipping Tool of Vista seems to be working just fine. :D

[VladTheImpaler1990]

Hey there, well as to What MPH said i don't use shift or control, i just press the print screen button then i just use paint and ress control v and then it comes up with the screen. I want to ask after you have press the screen shot button, what program are you opening it with, such as i am using paint.

[mphenterprises]

Hi Vlad. I just tried your suggestion and it worked flawlessly. I will update my Document. Good call. I had no idea you could just press the "Prt Scr" key and nothing else. :D

[Flashorn]

Hey Adama! Now if you were using FireFox, I would suggest using the add-on "FireShot", which stays in the right hand corner of your browser and also on your right click menu, at the ready whenever you need it but, since you're not, I have this little program called " Cropper 1.9 " that you can size and resize to your hearts desire and send the image wherever you want.AND it even works in (Vista) http://blogs.geekdoj...an/default.aspx



FLASHORN.

[Adama]

VladTheImpaler1990 said:

Hey there, well as to What MPH said i don't use shift or control, i just press the print screen button then i just use paint and ress control v and then it comes up with the screen. I want to ask after you have press the screen shot button, what program are you opening it with, such as i am using paint.

Hi, Vlad, thanks for your comment. I'm using the same program as you "Paint."

[Adama]

Hi, mph. Before I came back to the forums today, I printed all my email notifications from this discussion and I tried every single one of the suggestions you guys gave me here.
On my laptop, the word "insert" is above a rectangle with the words "prt sc" all inside the same key, which is just above the "backspace" key. Unless that's not the right one - but I don't see any other key that closely resembles the above words, on my keyboard.

I have tried it every which to Sunday and still, my PrintScreen does not work. I've tried to copy it to Paint, even to WordPad, all to no avail.

Then I experimented and tried to print my Yahoo! homepage, and still nothing happened with that one.

I have tried using Shift Prt Sc. Also tried Alt Prt Sc and samo samo.

This morning, I even went into my trusty H & S and printed all the info they had on taking a screen capture, using your keyboard, the three little keys, etc. and tried all over agan, with the same result.

It's not enough of a problem, so I'm not going to take my laptop back to BestBuy. I just wanted to make sure that I was doing all the right things. I guess I'll just have to stick with my Snipping Tool (but sometimes the Snips don't come out too clear.) Oh well.
Message was edited by: Adama

[Adama]

Hi, Flashorn, you made me laugh. All you Firefox aficionados are always trying to get me to convert. LOL :^0

Thanks for the link. I saved it to my Favorites and I'm going to look into it soon.

[rgreen4]

Adama - as you no doubt know, laptops are weird in the way they configure a keyboard. Now if there are two functions assigned to a key (to save space) the second function may be in a different color (as on my HP zv5330) or the second function may be enclosed in a small text box (as on my dv9500t which I am using). Then on the bottom left side of the keyboard among the keys to the left of the space bar you should see a fn key in a similar color code or text box.
To use the special function of that key press and hold the fn key and then the key you want to use. My laptop has 17 of these special functions 12 spread among the normal f1 to f12 keys, the insert (scroll), home (prt scrn), end (sys req), page up (pause) and page dn (break). Thus to do a print screen I would press and hold the fn key and press the home (prt scrn) key.

If that does not work, please post your laptops make and model.

[Adama]

h4. O M G, RGreen! Thank you!
That's it, that's what I've been looking for all these months. I was able to do a screen capture of my Yahoo! Homepage using the "fn" key next to my space bar. Thank you so much, my friend.

And, thank you everybody, for all your great comments and assistance. It's very much appreciated.

Hmmm..... I seem to have misplaced the ability to upload an image, otherwise I'd be sending hugs to everybody right about now! LOL :x

[Adama]

I had to go back and check what I had done that was preventing me from uploading images to PCW. I was fortunate enough to figure it out.
So here it is:
!http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

wooo hooo... thank you to all of you... wooo hooo


Message was edited by: Adama

[crazy4laptops]

just a note, to save time, you can paste your screenshots into powerpoint and then right mouse on it and select save as picture.

[Adama]

crazy4laptops said:

just a note, to save time, you can paste your screenshots into powerpoint and then right mouse on it and select save as picture.

Hi, crazy4L and thanks for the suggestion. I have no idea how to use "powerpoint." I guess that would require a different discussion/thread.

[rgreen4]

It would indeed be a duller communtiy without Adama's emo's.

[Adama]

rgreen4 said:

It would indeed be a duller communtiy without Adama's emo's.

LOL!

Coming from you,

Green, RGreen, I.I.E. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

that's quite a compliment.

Bene, molto bene. Grazie, grazie.

[akasha]

i'm having the same problem with my laptop (running windows vista) - i tried using the fn key & the home/prt sc key, that didn't work...so i tried using the ctrl key with them, that didn't work either.

i have an hp pavilion dv9620us laptop. any advice??

thanx!!

[bunk]

Here are a couple options:

http://www.faststone.org/] The 2nd one down is " Capture " it is a killer program that was free untill just recently, but $20 for a life time unlock code is a good deal for all the features this has.



This is a free program, but it only lets you captuer the " freehand " section of your screen that you are stable enough to draw around :D



[Snippy

[Adama]

akasha said:

i'm having the same problem with my laptop (running windows vista) - i tried using the fn key & the home/prt sc key, that didn't work...so i tried using the ctrl key with them, that didn't work either.

i have an hp pavilion dv9620us laptop. any advice??


thanx!!

Hi, Akasha and welcome to PCWorld. I'm the original person who started this thread, as I wasn't able to use the Insert Print Screen key.

From your comment, I see that you are having the same problem. Please try the following steps:

Press and hold the fn key, then press the insert/prt sc key (just above the backspace key,) or whatever your says on your HP.

Then go to your Start menu and enter Paint in the search box. When Paint comes up, click on it.

Next go to edit and click on paste. Your screenshot should appear within the Paint window. Click on the save icon and give it a name so you can find it easily the next time.

These steps should give you the abililty to capture a shot of your screen. If it doesn't work for you, you may want to try using the Snipping Tool. Here's a link to my document forums.pcworld.com/docs/DOC-1410|d-1410 which will give you instructions on to how to use the Snipping Tool, to take a Snip of your screen.

Good luck to you and thank you for dropping by our community.

ps: I love your usename :)

[mphenterprises]

Hi Akasha. For future reference, please do not latch onto someone else's Discussion. Even though your situation may appear to be similar, it is always best to open your own Discussion and allow as many of our member's an opportunity to review your problem. If you ever need assistance with creating your own Discussion, please ask and we will be glad to help you.

[akasha]

thanx!!

that worked!

i didn't even know what the snipping tool was until this forum (i'm new to vista!)!

ps - i had heard the name akasha once, & loved it enough to use it for my username. most people seem to like it. :o)