A Note on Screen Shots/Print Screens

Many IT and other assorted computer professionals in general favor applications (SnagIt, Jing, etc.) specifically designed for print screen capturing for their tutorials, Q&A, etc. Why? Ever wonder? I have. Well, it has to do with capturing exactly what you need, and only that.

When you take a print screen image from a browser, application (like MS Word) or other item on your desktop, you can just select the Print Screen button on your keyboard, or else click ALT-Print Screen to only capture the active window you have open and nothing else is captured.

ALT-Print Screen		Print Screen Alone

Have you ever captured a print screen of your browser at work, only to realize minutes before you sent it to your boss, coworkers, or client... that your yahoo email or a shopping site was open in another tab? This wasn't a problem a few years ago, when tab browsing didn't exist. But we live in far more convenient, and trickier times now.

According to an article I was reading this morning, titled Are You Accidentally Sharing Your Secrets Online -- on Social Media Today's website -- print screens that we capture "may often include detail from your own web browser, including a list of your favourites or other tabs in the browser that you have open at the point when you take the screen grab. The best solution is to make sure all your other windows are closed before you make a screen grab so you avoid sharing any browsing information or personal info."

I use two browsers, one (IE) for work-only access to company information, another browser (FF or Chrome) for searches, maps, news sources, personal email, and other information I need to access throughout the day but that could otherwise confuse me or negatively affect my business-only website access. Having two different browsers open allows me to have my personal Twitter and Facebook accounts open in one, while I access my business Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts in another browser -- without having to re-log in continuously throughout my busy day.

Why do I need all my accounts open at the same time? Because information sources available to me personally can help me professionally -- I often times quote or retweet sources from my personal use browser in my social media sites on my business only browser social media sites.

Has this been an issue for you? How have you dealt with this inconvenience?