When using IrfanView, if you need to perform a screen capture of the Desktop, multiple monitors, a window, or a rectangular area, you may not need to use an external screen capture program; IrfanView comes with a screen capture utility.

To perform a screen capture, do one of the following:

1. Select "Options" - "Capture/Screenshot".

OR

1. Press the letter C.

2. The "Capture Setup" dialog box appears. From here, select options as desired:

* Capture area : Capture all monitors, the current desktop, a window, the client area of a window, or a custom region.

* Capture method: Select a keyboard hotkey to initiate the capture (defaults to CTRL + F11), or automatically perform a capture after a user-definable number of seconds.

* Include mouse cursor: Uncheck to hide the mouse cursor from the capture.

* Saving method: Either place the capture in the clipboard and store in the IrfanView window, or save the image as a file. If the latter, choose the file name format, the destination directory, and file format.

The default file name format stores images with the filename of "capture_" followed by the day, month, year, another underscore, the hour, minute, and second.

You can also click the "Options" button next to "Save as" to change options related to the chosen graphics format.

3. When you are ready to perform the capture, press the "Start" button.

The "Full Desktop area - all monitors" or "Desktop area - current monitor (mouse)" capture options should work as expected. For "Foreground window" or "Foreground window - Client Area", select the desired window before pressing the hotkey or allowing the timer to expire.

For "Custom rectangle / region capture", you should see a cross-hair on the screen. Move the cursor to the top-left of the region to capture, then press the left mouse button. Now, move the cursor to the bottom-right of the region to select the capture area. Then, click the left mouse button again.

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