Use the Options tab to fine-tune its settings and enable a preview (300 pixels by default) of your captures, then click OK to get started. Lightscreen lets you capture the entire screen, a selected area, the active window or – from version 2 – a selected window from those shown. Switch to the Hotkeys tab to set up the various keyboard triggers for capturing.
Once installed, the app will open at its Options screen – from here set your default save directory, filename and file type (JPG, PNG or BMP). You can upload your screenshots to (or simply save them on your hard drive), and there’s an integrated preview window to let you vet your screenshot before saving it. It places itself in the System Tray for easy access, and offers six configurable options via hotkeys. If you want something a little simpler to use, yet more versatile, then Lightscreen is well worth checking out. There’s also the Snipping Tool, built into versions of Windows since Vista. Windows provides the keyboard shortcut for capturing the entire screen to the clipboard, while Windows 8 users can hold + to dump a screenshot in the Pictures\Screenshots folder on their hard drive. Everyone, at one time or other, will need a screenshot capture tool.