Introduction
On the standard Windows operating system, pressing the Print-Screen key will copy an image of the entire screen to the clipboard, holding the Alt key and pressing the Print-Screen key will capture the currently selected window. Some Windows systems come with a screen capture utility pre-installed. Other operating systems may also offer a similar utility for screen capture.
As an alternative to the utilities that come with the OS, the freeware products in this review cover most of the following useful features and functions which users might find they need:
- Capture full screen or freely selected screen areas;
- Auto detect windows and control objects such as button, box, toolbar, tab, etc.;
- Snap scrolling windows, allow delayed captures;
- Auto adapt to screen settings, such as custom text size;
- Re-size screen shots or create thumbnails and other extra features.
This article's focus is on screen captures. If your priority is editing, after the capture, then check out Best Free Digital Image Editor. Several of the editors listed also perform screen captures.
[Doakio Editor's Note: This article was restored from Gizmo's Freeware archives as a service to the freeware community. Gizmo's Freeware provided high-quality, volunteer freeware reviews for decades. They shut down in July of 2021.]
Rated Products
License: Free (Donationware)
License: Free
License: Free
License: Free (Open source)
License: Free (Open source)
License: Free
License: Free
License: Free (Limited features)
More Screen Capture Tools
The following screen capture tools were brought up in comments here or noted from other sources. Some tools don't properly handle the text size setting thereby effectively cropping 225% of the screen with a 150% text screen setting. They may work fine if your text setting is normal (100%).
- Puush
- CaptureIt Plus
- Capture View
- EasyCapture
- FastStone Capture (Last Free Version)
- FoxArc Screen Capture
- Gadwin PrintScreen
- Greenshot
- Horizon33
- LightShot
- MWSnap
- PrintKey 2000
- PrtScr
- Screen Capturer
- ScreenHunter Free
- Screenpresso
- Shotty
- SnapShot
- VVCap
- ZScreen
To be reviewed:
SnapCrab: http://www.fenrir-inc.com/us/snapcrab/
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