Microsoft mucks with PrtScr key for first time in decades
- Reference: 1681411398
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/13/microsoft_snipping_tool_default/
- Source link:
One place that's happening is with the Print Screen (PrtScr) key, a function that has essentially stayed the same through years of Microsoft upgrades and enhancements to other features.
Microsoft scrambles to fix Windows 11 'aCropalypse' privacy-battering bug [1]READ MORE
Microsoft this month rolled out [2]Build 22624.1546 to the Insider Beta Channel, which includes the plan to change what happens when the PrtScr key is pushed. Rather than simply taking a shot of what's on the screen and storing it on the Clipboard, OneDrive or third-party apps like Dropbox, it will open Snipping Tool by default.
Users will still have the option with Snipping Tool to make a copy of the entire screen, but it means an extra step. And if users really don't like the change, they can turn off the default setting by going to Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard.
If they already have modified this setting, the preference will be preserved, according to Microsoft.
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For the most part, it appears the change are being met with a shrug. One user on [4]Reddit noted that Snipping Tool already was an option in Windows 11 in the Accessibility Settings menu. "All they are changing here is that it will be on by default instead of off."
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Another pointed to a shortcut, writing that Win+Shift+S will do the trick, enabling users to "grab the whole screen or a snip, annotate as needed, then either copy past or save as."
"Half of me wants to grumble about 'things changing' and 'back in my day,' but the other half is relieved that I will finally push a button that has existed on my keyboard for decades without ever getting pressed," one techie wrote.
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They also pointed to third-party apps for Windows, like the open-source Greenshot and ShareX tools, as options.
"I've had Greenshot bound to PrintScr for ages at this point," one user wrote. "It's just way better than snipping tool – you get a magnifier which you can nudge around using the arrow keys for pixel perfect screenshots."
Another wrote they were surprised Microsoft hadn't bought Greenshot already and "rebranded it as Clippy Grabber or something."
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There were those who noted the changing modern user environment and that Print Screen needed to catch up. For one, people increasingly are using two or more monitors at their desk. Hitting PrtScr will capture all the screens. Instead, they need to hold ALT+Print Screen to copy only what's on the active screen.
In addition, as one user pointed out, the size of the screens is expanding. Defaulting to Snipping Tool "makes sense, screen sizes are getting huge. Back in the 640x480 days grabbing the whole screen made sense," they said.
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Scrolling through Reddit comments, there was only one really hard "no."
"Remember when just a couple weeks ago Snipping Tool was caught not properly deleting data from trimmed and censored screenshots?" they asked, before colorfully explaining that they remember and don't want Snipping Tool as a default.
That problem was the basis for the [13]aCropalypse privacy snarl. Users were cropping parts of screenshots, photos, and other images – and some of those parts could contain sensitive information or images – using Snipping Tool. However, it was discovered last month that after using the app, the file of the cropped images still included the cropped-out portions, which could be recovered and viewed.
Similar problems were found with the Snip & Sketch cropping tool in Windows 10 and with Google's Markup image-editing app for Pixel smartphones.
Microsoft within days rolled out fixes for both Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, but for some users – as seen above – the damage was done.
Despite such protests, unless something goes off the rails, Snipping Tool will become the default. Changes that are put into the Insider Beta Channel almost always end up as features in the OS. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/microsoft_snipping_tool_fix/
[2] https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2023/04/07/announcing-windows-11-insider-preview-build-22621-1546-and-22624-1546/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZDh7gtezsVQamdKCJ1ApIQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/gadgets/comments/12iod3x/microsoft_set_to_change_the_print_screen_button/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDh7gtezsVQamdKCJ1ApIQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDh7gtezsVQamdKCJ1ApIQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDh7gtezsVQamdKCJ1ApIQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/12/microsoft_excel_experimental_projects/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/10/microsoft_exchange_online_car/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/10/microsoft_fortra_cobalt_strike/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/07/microsoft_sanctions_fines/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDh7gtezsVQamdKCJ1ApIQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/24/microsoft_snipping_tool_fix/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Just leave it alone after 30 years ffs. People can always retrieve the image and manipulate with whatever app anyone wants/chooses. Stop making choices for us - perhaps Snipping Tool is not getting any use? Microsoft would do better to concentrate on sorting the inconsistencies in their OS before messing with even more muscle memory.
Hard Truths
Or, maybe after 30 years, and a new generation of computer users has grown up, they expect different behavior. You take a screenshot on iOS, for example, you get a little thumbnail preview, and if you tap on it, you're taken to what is essentially the equivalent of MS Paint. I haven't used Android in a while, but I'm guessing it's similar. Microsoft can't be like Fox News and continue to focus all its efforts on a dying demographic, they need to maintain relevance with future generations, which sometimes means making changes we older fogies don't like.
At some point we all have to face the fact that the world is changing and passing us by. We all say how that will never happen to us when we're young, and how we're different from our parents, but 30-years later... we're the "get off my lawn you damn kids" cranky curmudgeons. Now, we can either accept our fate gracefully or we can make an ass of ourselves in what is commonly referred to as a mid-life crisis.
As we suspected
Microsoft owns your computer, keyboard and all. Any choice of what functions in what way is not your concern.
This may mean that I can only get screenshots like I want them from other operating systems. My work involves that often enough that Windows is getting to be less useful daily. I'll be looking for the registry hack fix for this or just stay on the Linux VM all day.
Re: As we suspected
You don't need a registry hack. You literally turn it off in the options.
I've had it on since the option appeared just because I like the option to select the portion of the screen being captured.
I used to use a 3rd party program to do it but since they added the option to wi dows there has been no need.
If you want to continue your witch hunt. Go ahead but you're just showing your ignorance about the operating system.
Re: As we suspected
It never fails. Every time there's an article about Windows, someone posts a comment about how Microsoft is ruining Windows and they're going to start using Linux. Only Linux growth rates seem to remain largely flat. If even 1% of the people who claimed "I'm switching to Linux" actually followed through, Linux growth would have exploded. But out of the thousands of people across the interwebs making that claim every time some story like this comes out, only maybe one or two will actually switch.
If they already have modified this setting, the preference will be preserved
(see icon)
"If they already have modified this setting, the preference will be preserved, according to Microsoft."
Until the next update when MS Engineers will turn it back to original because, "You really didn't mean to turn off what we turned on for you."
Just as long as they don't start making life difficult for Greenshot, as they already do for third-party browsers...
If it aint't broke, break it
MS design philosophy for decades now. Do none of them ever interact with people who aren't that IT literate, but gradually learn things and eventually get used to them? These kind of changes to default behaviours cause huge problems for them, and simply wafting away complaints with the excuse that there's an option hidden away somewhere completely ignores this fact.
If you ask me, the default behavior should be to take a screenshot then open it with the snipping tool so you can do some quick markups if you want or take another screenshot if you don't like that one. And the snipping tool should maybe just be folded into MS Paint.