RECORD YOUR PC SCREEN
FREE program that makes it easier than ever
Inprevious issues, we’ve covered several programs that let you take video recordings or screenshots so you can better illustrate a problem on your PC to someone else. Chrispc Screen Recorder is a new, free program that lets you do both.
You can record your entire screen or just a portion of it. Better still, it lets you set your own keyboard shortcuts for different types of recordings and screenshots.
STEP1
To download the program, go to www. snipca.com/23248, then click the green Download Now button. Open the downloaded setup file, click Run, Yes, OK, Next, select ‘I accept the agreement’, then keep clicking Next until you need to click Install. Finally, click Finish to launch the program. You’ll see a small window with three buttons – Record 1 , Screenshot 2 and Settings 3 . We’ll first show you how to tweak the program’s default settings, so click Settings, then ‘Advanced settings’ 4 .
STEP2
The Settings window will open in the Recording tab. By default, your mouse cursor is visible in video recordings 1 , there’s a fivesecond onscreen countdown timer before your recording begins 2 and the program records any audio produced by your PC 3 . Untick the relevant boxes if you don’t want these options. The program creates subfolders in your Documents folder where it saves recordings. If you want to save your files elsewhere, click the folder icon 4 and choose another location.
STEP3
Now click the Screenshot tab 1 . Here, you can choose whether to display your mouse cursor in screenshots 2 , change the file format (select JPG or PNG) 3 and change the default save location 4 . Once you’ve recorded your video, it will automatically start playing in Chrispc’s Video Editor. If you don’t want this, click the Program tab 5 and untick the second box. The Skin dropdown menu in this section lets you change the program’s theme.
5 STEP4
Next, click the Hotkeys tab 1 . Unlike other programs, Chrispc Screen Recorder lets you take three types of screen recordings – full screen 2 , a selected area 3 or any open program window 4 (such as Word or Chrome). You’ll see default keyboard shortcuts for each of these options and another to stop your recording. To change any of these default shortcuts, click inside the relevant field, then press the key combination you want to use instead. Click Apply Settings 5 when you’ve finished.
STEP5
There are two ways to start a video recording. You can click Record 1 , then choose the type of recording you want 2 . Alternatively, you can simply press the keyboard shortcut you created in Step 4 3 . If you choose Selected Area 4 , you’ll see a message asking you to highlight the section of your desktop you want to record. If you choose Selected Window 5 , you need to click inside the window you want to record. You’ll now see a five-second onscreen countdown timer, after which whatever you do within the selected area will be recorded.
STEP6
There’s no time limit on recordings, but be careful not to reveal sensitive data relating to your online accounts (such as passwords) or your PC (such as your IP address). When you’ve finished recording, click Stop (or use the ‘Stop screen recording’ shortcut – see Step 4). Another option is to re-open the program on your PC and click Stop. Unless you changed the default settings (see Step 3), the recording will automatically start playing in Chrispc’s Video Editor 1 so you can check it. You can play/pause 2 or stop the video 3 . To open and check another video file, click Load 4 , navigate to the file, then click Open.
STEP 7
As with video recordings, the program lets you take three types of screenshot in two different ways. So, either click Screenshot 1 , then choose what you want to take a screenshot of 2 , or use the relevant keyboard shortcut 3 . By default, your videos and screenshots will be saved in separate folders 4 . To access them, go to your Documents folder, then the Chrispc Screen Recorder folder 5 . Finally, send the relevant files to the person helping you fix your PC problem. ●