Although XP is still a very big player in the home and business computer world , its becoming apparent that Windows 7 will soon takeover as old pc's give up and need replacing...

I know it can be daunting moving onto a new operating system, and getting used to it can take time, so over the next few weeks I will be posting some handy features of the Windows 7 operating system.

Windows 7 Snipping Tool --- Very Cool !

In XP and older versions of Windows there was a tool that most people forgot about or did not know about or just did not use.

It was the 'print screen' button. You could hit 'print screen', then paste the image into MS Paint or another program and send it to someone or use it on a blog like I do.

Introduced in Vista and also in Windows 7 is the Windows Snipping Tool. It is really useful and a much easier way of catching a screen shot than the print screen way.

To find it, you go to the Start Button >All Programs>Accessories> Snipping Tool.

When you open the tool, the screen goes sort of foggy, then you can drag your cursor around what you want to take a snap shot of.

You then have choices on the top menu. You can copy your snap shot to the clipboard and then paste it in a program or you can email it, or even save it.

The other really great feature is you can use the pen to mark it up and draw arrows or circle stuff, very handy for sending presentations which need to be highlighted.

If you have not used it, check it out!  It is really easy to use when you want to show something that is on your screen to someone.

It helps for troubleshooting problems on your computer like getting screen shots of those nasty virus, spyware and malware pop-ups etc etc

Have Fun ......