Screen Shots using OS 9.x:
Create a screen shot of the ENTIRE desktop as you see it by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 3 key.

Create a screen shot of your own selected area via cross hair by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 4 key. This will turn the the cursor into a cross hair you click and drag with to create a box around the area you wish to save as a screen shot. As soon as you stop dragging to create the box, it takes the snapshot of what is in the selected area.

Create a screen shot of an open window as displayed on your desktop by first turning the Caps Lock 'on' and with Caps Lock on by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 4 key. This turns the cursor into a bulls eye. When you click the window you want a screen shot of, it creates a perfect shot of just that window and its contents as displayed.

These images are saved as PICT files and to the 'root' or main directory on your boot drive. They are automatically named Picture 1, Picture 2, the number assigned one higher each time than prior pictures saved. To print(and view), just double-click on the Picture file to open, and then Print from the file menu (or command-P). Easy as that!

Screen Shots using OS X 10.2.x:
(this should work for any version of OS X, but we only tested 10.2.x) Create a screen shot of the ENTIRE desktop as you see it by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 3 key.

Create a screen shot of your own selected area via cross hair by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 4 key. This will turn the the cursor into a cross hair you click and drag with to create a box around the area you wish to save as a screen shot. As soon as you stop dragging to create the selected area, it takes a snapshot of the area selected.

Create a screen shot of an open window as displayed on your desktop by holding down the Command (Open-Apple) and Shift keys and pressing the 4 key. Then, press the Space Bar once. This turns the cursor a 'camera' icon. As you move the mouse over windows, it will highlight each window. Just click once and it will make the highlighted window a saved screen shot.

OS X these screen shots as PDF Files titled Picture 1, Picture 2, and onward sequentially. These screen shot pictures are saved to the desktop. To print (and view), just double-click on the Picture file to open, and then Print from the file menu (or command-P). Easy as that!

Thanks to our Tips and Deals readers, we also will now point out that you don't have to just save the screen shot to disk right away (or at all if you don't want to). Instead of having it saved to the disk automatically, if you also hold the control key down (in addition to the keys already explained for screen captures above) the screen shot captured will be placed on the clipboard instead of saved to the disk. From the clipboard (using the standard menu bar Edit commands), you can paste the screen shot into any document that will accept an image file. This includes most e-mail programs to make it very easy to capture, paste, and e-mail the screen shot out with a minimum of hassle.

We always welcome our readers to comment on any Quick Tip we provide and are always looking for new Quick Tip suggestions too!