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Miscellaneous Software

Annotate or Draw on an Application or Window for Technical Presentations

SUMMARY: The ZoomIt utility lets you draw or write on an immediate snapshot of the current screen, useful when giving presentations.


 

Need to give a technical presentation involving a website, application, or the operating system itself, and find it hard to focus attention to a particular link, dialog box, menu item, etc? The ZoomIt utility lets you activate a hotkey to immediately zoom in or out of the current screen, allowing those in the back of the room to more easily see a topic that you are discussing.

Besides zooming features, you can also draw on a zoomed or non-zoomed snapshot of the desktop in multiple colors, perhaps highlighting a menu item or web link the audience needs to notice. And, instead of having to open up Notepad to type description text, while in drawing mode you can press t to immediately begin typing on the screen snapshot. Plus, you can copy the snapshot with all drawings / text to the clipboard, or save it to a file. This way you could e-mail copies of the annotated screen to the participants or offer printouts at the end of a presentation.


Giving a presentation explaining how to use Internet Explorer 8? Show users how to access Internet Options by zooming in, circling the menu option, and describing what it does with ZoomIt.




Another feature of this utility is the "Break Timer" that you can use when initiating a break in a presentation (and hoping the participants arrive back on time). This blanks the screen and displays a large, easy-to-see timer in the middle. You can optionally display a background graphic, move the time around the screen (to make it visible against the background graphic), and/or play a sound when the timer has expired.

Other configuration options include configuring the hotkeys to activate ZoomIt features and adjusting the font used when typing on a screenshot.

The software runs on Windows XP and can be downloaded at the following address:

ZoomIt: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx



 

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