Windows 8.1 screen capture tip: store the full screen into an image directly

Now that Windows 8.1 is here, I've noticed myself taking screenshots from various aspects of the operating system, so that I can easily refer to those screenshots from my phone for instance when I'm away from a Windows 8.1 machine. (As years go by, those old screenshots also serve as a nice memory back, I do have similar screenshots starting from Windows 3.11.)

Now, the tip: to quickly store a full-screen screenshot to a file in Windows 8 or 8.1, press Win+Print Screen. That is, use the Windows key as a "modifier" like Ctrl or Alt for the Print Screen key ("Prn Scr"). In case of many laptops, you might also need to hold down the Fn key to get to the Print Screen button.

If you got it right, Windows will briefly flash your screen, and then you get a PNG file stored into your Pictures folder under "Screenshots". If you take multiple shots, the files are numbered sequentially.

Happy screenshootin'!