Vista Tips n Tricks

Nikhil Rastogi, Feb 24, 2008 1522 hrs IST

A collection of a few useful tweaks and hacks for Windows Vista

EXPERT REVIEW

Assign Hotkey to new Screenshot tool in Vista

Did you know that Windows Vista comes with a very Mac-like screenshot tool? It's called Snipping Tool and it's pretty good. You can select by click-n-dragging the portion of the screen that you want to take a screenshot of and the Snipping tool will capture it and show you in the editor itself but no auto-save as an image format unfortunately.

The reason why this tool is called Snipping Tool and not screenshot tool is because the purpose of the tool is not to take screenshots as we conventionally do but rather gather snippets of information for let's say presentations and the like. Therefore the presence of the pen, highlighter and eraser in the editor itself; perfect for tablet PC users.

1. Go to "Start", type in the search "Snipping", you should see it pop up. If it doesn't appear, then you have a version of Vista that doesn't come with this feature; Vista Ultimate and Business users (not confirmed) should have this feature.

2. Right-click the tool, click on "Properties".

3. In the "Shortcut Key" box enter a shortcut key combination that you think is best, but also that doesn't conflict with some other program. The best one that I chose is "Crtl+F12" as I don't know of any programs using this Hotkey except Irfan View for screenshots.

4. If you like using this and don't want the red border on screenshots that you take, click on "Tools | Options" and choose "White" as "Ink Color".

5. After you capture a snip, you can save it by clicking the "Save Snip" button. You can save a snip as an HTML/MHT, PNG, GIF, or JPEG file.

USER COMMENTS

Good one.. Thnx a lot...

by Fifa, Bangalore, on May 06, 2008 06:57 PM, Report abuse Reply

marvelas

by vik-singh, Lucknow, on Mar 16, 2008 07:32 AM, Report abuse Reply

good suggession

by sushrut, secunderabad, on Feb 29, 2008 08:08 AM, Report abuse Reply

a nice article after a long time on techtree. good work. appreciated..

by chungilal, bangqalore, on Feb 28, 2008 02:26 AM, Report abuse Reply

Good,Send More Tips & Tricks On Windows XP-SP-2 & Windows Vista

by Vijendra, Mumbai, on Feb 26, 2008 01:08 PM, Report abuse Reply

It's so nice to know that how display a run command in start menu.

by gajendra, delhi, on Feb 26, 2008 11:23 AM, Report abuse Reply

Its nice doing it like xp..but it'll be simple to use shortcut keys. [winlogo+r] just like old dayz..

by Gourav, Cuttack, on Feb 25, 2008 09:29 PM, Report abuse Reply

Hi, the tip is good, but there is another way also to do the same thing. Click START key and there is a "Start Search" area just below "All Programs" which works like "Run" area. So there is no need for a separate ? Run? area.

by Deepak, New Delhi, on Feb 25, 2008 03:28 PM, Report abuse Reply

Great tips. I have been using Vista for last one year and more and looked at lot of tips bus this is small but some of the most important tweaks collection

by Anil, Pune, on Feb 25, 2008 03:15 PM, Report abuse Reply

I have vista home edition, i can't be able to open secpol.msc, windows can't find that file. please give me any suggestion

by bhavesh, morbi, on Feb 25, 2008 08:39 AM, Report abuse Reply

Use WINSNAP instead

by bsvr, Bangalore, on Feb 25, 2008 01:07 PM, Report abuse

yes i have tried with this...hope so,it will be ok.....

by rahul haridas, pandharpur, on Feb 24, 2008 10:13 PM, Report abuse Reply