There are times when you want to record certain game events – be it to remember a particular game or be it for proof in case another player is harassing you (see also here).

It is very easy to make a screenshot in Mac OS X: If you haven’t already done so, please activate the key combinations for screenshots via "System Settings" / "Keyboard & Mouse" / "Keyboard Shortcuts." Then press Shift/Apple/4, and you can select the desired screen section with your mouse. It will be saved as a .png file on the desktop afterwards.

In many modern Linux distributions, making screenshots is just as easy. For example, in Ubuntu you can find this function via "Applications" / "Accessories" / “Make Screenshot." In other Linux distributions, you should install the package "gnome_utils" (and thus the program "gnome-screenshot") or "kdegraphics" (and thus the program "ksnapshot"), respectively.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 feature a program for storing screen sections as well as the complete screen content as a graphics file. It can be accessed via "Start" / "All Programs" / "Accessories" / Snipping Tool."

All the older versions of Windows do not come with such a program. The following path works for all versions of Windows, from Windows 95 up to Windows Vista and Windows 7:

1. Press and hold the "Alt" key and press the "PrtScr" key, to be found above the keyboard's cursor keys. That way, the content of the currently topmost window is copied to the clipboard.
2. Activate the following program: "Start" / "(All) Programs" / "Accessories" / "Paint." (If Paint isn’t preinstalled, you can get it from your Windows CD.)
3. Select "Edit" / "Paste." The window content is inserted as an image. (In Windows 7, click on the "Paste" clipboard.)
4. Select "File" / "Save As.” (In Windows 7, click on the floppy disk icon.)
5. Now select either "JPEG" (Windows XP or newer) or "24-bit Bitmap" (Windows 2000 or older).
6. If you saved the image as a 24-bit bitmap, please compress the resulting file (showing the extension .bmp) by using, for example, the free 7-Zip.