Need free software for making JPEGs of screenshots

[Mike Buckley]

I'm trying to avoid the cost of upgrading my paid software so it will be compatible with my new operating system. I would appreciate recommendations for free software that can be used with Windows 7 to display a screenshot from within the Windows clipboard. If the software also can be used to clone and to correct perspective distortion, that would be even better though not necessary. All of my other software needs are being met, so the simpler the free software could be, the better.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[xpatUSA]

I'm trying to avoid the cost of upgrading my paid software so it will be compatible with my new operating system. I would appreciate recommendations for free software that can be used with Windows 7 to display a screenshot from within the Windows clipboard. If the software also can be used to clone and to correct perspective distortion, that would be even better though not necessary. All of my other software needs are being met, so the simpler the free software could be, the better.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

If you go to any software download site you should be able to search for image or photo editors, free or shareware (nominal charge) - at your risk, BTW.

Depending on what you mean by "display", most free image viewers would do the job - I just tried it in IrfanView. For correcting distortion, cloning and stuff you might need something more complex like Photoshop Elements (not free) or equal.

OpenOffice.org (a huge free download) can paste images into their presentation software Impress and also their text software Writer. The image gets scaled to fit the document size and can't be edited, AFIK. Open Office is equivalent to Microsoft Office but better and can open .doc, .ppt, .xls, etc. files.

Does Windows 7 have "Paint" still? That might or might not work depending on the clipboard data type . .

Ted

[Mike Buckley]

Paint in Windows 7 works perfectly for saving screenshots. I had no idea. Thanks so much, Ted!

[arith]

I don't know what software you've got but I use PSE10 and File/ New/ Image from Clipboard. However you might like Paint.Net although it isn't on my new PC.

[Mike Buckley]

Steve: I already have an older version of PSE that is not compatible with Windows 7 on another computer. I use that for the few times that I need to clone, alter perspective distortion, etc. I also use it, as you explained, to save screenshots of that computer.

All: The moral of the story is to always ask your spouse. When I mentioned to my wife how nice Ted was to let me know about Paint, she told me to look for Snipping Tool on my system. It automatically displays whatever is being viewed at the time on the monitor and provides a cropping tool.

[DanK]

I do this with Irfanview. It is very versatile free graphics view program with a lot of functions.

[Colin Southern]

Why not just use the Windows Snipping tool? It's designed to grab any portion of the screen and save it to a file - and it's already included with the operating system.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks for the help, guys! A couple of you understandably didn't take the time to read my post explaining that my wife told me about the Snipping Tool. It works like a charm!

[Colin Southern]

Thanks for the help, guys! A couple of you understandably didn't take the time to read my post explaining that my wife told me about the Snipping Tool. It works like a charm!

The other thing you wife may not have told you is that you can run XP Mode under Windows 7 -- it's a full Win XP OS that runs as a virtual machine -- so you can still run software that's too old for Win 7.

[xpatUSA]

I'll use XP until they pry the CD from my cold, dead hand ;-)

If it ain't broke . . .

[MrB]

It is not precisely relevant but nevertheless useful to know that, in MS Windows, pressing -
Prt Sc (print screen) puts an image of the whole screen on the Clipboard;
Alt and Prt Sc puts an image of the active program window on the Clipboard.
(On some laptops, you might also need to press Fn (function) to enable Prt Sc.)

Philip

[Mike Buckley]

The other thing you wife may not have told you is that you can run XP Mode under Windows 7

You're absolutely right, Colin. Even if she did know about it, she wouldn't tell me for fear that I would screw something up. If she could buy me a computer that has no Delete key, she would.

Just out of curiosity, does Windows 7 ship with XP Mode or do I have to install XP? (Please don't tell my wife that I asked.)

[enaiman]

It is about compatibility mode.
Right click the executable and go to "properties" then go to compatibility tab.

However it's not 100% guaranteed it will work.

[Colin Southern]

Just out of curiosity, does Windows 7 ship with XP Mode or do I have to install XP? (Please don't tell my wife that I asked.)

Hi Mike,

Just pop along to microsoft.com and search for XP Mode - and follow your nose from there. There are 2 downloads - few tricks with it, but not too bad

[Mike Buckley]

That alone scares me, Colin. But thanks for the great tip. I'll keep it in mind.

Eugen, when you mention that it's not 100% guaranteed to work, in my hands it would probably be 100% guaranteed not to work.

[tclune]

I'll use XP until they pry the CD from my cold, dead hand ;-)

If it ain't broke . . .

Or, as they say about Microsoft products, "If it ain't completely broke..."

[Manfred M]

Or, as they say about Microsoft products, "If it ain't completely broke..."

Any Mac user that says that has not had the "pleasure" of working with Apple's Final Cut Pro 7. That piece of software makes MS software look rock solid stable. I use both platforms and can honestly say that your generalization is only true if you use the basic applications from Apple.

The moment you start looking at some of the pro video and audio software, especially if you start integrating professional peripherals and plug ins, that theory goes straight down the drain. I remember fighting with an iMac Pro for several days and had to disconnect the pro monitor to get it to run and eventually switch to Premiere Pro on a PC when doing some colour correction work. Colorista II (an industry-standard plug-in) ran perfectly on the PC under Premiere Pro but was totally unstable on the Mac using Final Cut Pro.

On the other hand, I've never had any problems with Photoshop on either platform, but the Windows version has some features not available on the Mac version.

Bottom line, in my experience, is that so long as you stay within the "walled garden" and stick with the run-of-the-mill Apple software, you are fine; rock solid and stable. If you get into some of the pro side of things, Windows is acutally more stable. I suspect that Apple has never really worked with a lot of third-party peripherals and software and they are not as experienced as MS is with these parts of the business.

I guess my other observation is that Mac users are more forgiving that Windows users and they are willing to live with little quirks. On the other hand, Apple monitors are great for PP work and there is never any question about if they are "good enough" to use. Too bad that they don't offer anything larger than a 27" monitor. The old 30" Apple Cinema Display ones were a real pleasure to work with.

[Geoff F]

Taking a screen copy is something which I have never managed to achieve previously.

One photo editing programme claimed to be able to do it but always crashed.

I never considered using Paint. It is one of those Windows extras which I forgot about a long time ago because I never understood what it actually did.

[Mike Buckley]

Geoff,

Using Paint isn't intuitive, at least not for me, but it is really easy once you figure it out. First, add a Print Screen to the clipboard. To do that, every keyboard I've used required pressing Shift+PrtScn. Once you have loaded Paint, click anywhere on the Paint window to give it "focus" (to activate it). Then press Ctrl+V to paste the image from the clipboard into Paint.

If you have the Clipping Tool (it may come only with Windows 7), the process is even easier. Simply load it and drag your cursor to determine the area displayed on your monitor that you want to crop. The default setting is a rectangular area but the New dropdown menu provides other methods of cropping that truly are snips rather than just crops.

[MrB]

First, add a Print Screen to the clipboard. To do that, every keyboard I've used required pressing Shift+PrtScn.

It does depend on the make, model, and what is printed on the keys: e.g. -
My old Toshiba laptop (2004) - press PrtSc.
My newer HP laptop (2009) - press Fn + PrtSc
My recent desktop (2011) with Logitech wireless keyboard - press Print Screen.
(Shift key not required for any of them.)

Philip