How To Record Computer Screen (Free)

Screenshots are quite handy when you need to show someone what is happening on your screen. There are also many methods to take Screenshots in Windows making the process even easier. However, there are times when screenshots are just not enough to present what you want to convey.

Screenshots work great when you need to provide step by step instructions, but sometimes you just need to make a movie of a process, especially, a complex one. To make a video of your screen, Windows doesn’t offer any built-in feature unlike Screenshots.

However, there are some third-party tools, both free and paid that will help your make a video of your computer screen. Most of the tools are actually paid, but we will like to introduce a free tool that get the job done perfectly.

In this tutorial, we are going to use the tool CamStudio, it’s a free open source tool perfect for recording screen. The tool is really simple to use and also very light, making it easier to use and work on almost all systems. If you concerned about what information CamStudio can access or how they use it, then you can give their Privacy Policy a look.

If CamStudio doesn’t work for you or you are looking for some extra features, then OBS is also a good option. It is also an open source tool while being completely free to use.

Note: The recorded files will be quite large in size, which can be quite an issue to upload or download. You should compress the videos using a dedicated software to make it easier to share.

Record Computer Screen Using CamStudio

Download the software and start it. The process is simple, Click on “Region” and from the drop down menu, choose the region option which you would like to use.

Once selected, click on “Red Circle” to start recording and minimize CamStudio window. Now, do whatever you like and everything will be recorded in the “Region” you selected. When you are done just maximize the window again and click on “Blue Square” to stop the video.

A save screen will open where you can give name to the video and save it in any location you like. Once saved, the video will be played in CamStudio player so you can give your creation a good look.

Get Rid of CamStudio from the Recorded Video

Now, recording video is quite simple, but there is a tiny issue. At the start and end of the video the CamStudio window is recorded in the video as you start and stop the video. This might not be a Huge issue, but it is definitely not “Professional”, if your goal is to put a professional image then you need to get rid of this part.

Yes, you can just edit the video and delete both parts from the video, but that is not a convenient option. So we will try to go for some automatic solutions to get rid of this tiny issue.

To remove this window from the start of the video, you can just click on “Options” and hover your mouse cursor over “ Program Options”. From the side menu Tick “Minimize Program on start recording”.

When this option is selected, the program will close as soon as you click on record (Red Circle). So the program will not be shown in the recording.

To get rid of it from the end of the video you need to stop the video using a shortcut key instead of opening the Window and clicking on “Stop”.

To set a shortcut key, click on “Options” and hover your mouse cursor over “ Program Options”. From the side menu click on “Keyboard shortcuts…”

In there, you can specify different shortcut keys, just specify a shortcut key for “Stop key”. Now, once you are done with your recording, just press the specified button and the recording will stop.

Note: if you would like to record audio as well, then make sure from “Options” you have set “Record audio from microphone (or Speaker).

The format of the recorded video can also be changed, Just click on the “Sun” like icon to change the format from AVI to SWF or MP4.

You can also checkout this video of how you can use CamStudio to record computer screen:

If you have any questions or know any other free and easy to use recording tool, let us know in the comments below.

Karar Haider
Categories: Computers
Tags: Video