I had tried out Jing last year, but took it off my computer as it was a resource hog. Memory consumption decreased greatly, so I tho
ught I would give it another go.
A brief synopsis of Jing Features:
- Takes a snapshot of your whole screen or a small portion of your screen
- Option to save your output (.jpg) to either a free screencast account, your computer, or if you’re really geeky, you can save output at your FTP site or YouTube (Pro Version).
- Ability to capture a video running on your computer to share with someone
- Ability to make your own video – be it instructional or just fun in nature. Videos can then be instantly shared via IM, web or email.
- If you have a microphone, you can record your comments or instructions while capturing what you want to share. Nice feature and really allows for personalization.
- Output your jpgs (videos not allowed), to your Flickr account
- There is a 5” time limit for videos.
- A Pro version is available that will allow direct import to YouTube and the ability to save your videos as MPEG4s instead of the default SWF Flash Video.
Jing is a free product by TechSmith (who also brings you SnagIt (like Jing, only not free), and Camtasia Studio (a high-end video producing software, also paid).
This time around, I especially wanted to try out the screencasting feature of Jing. I was disappointed to see my ‘masterpiece’ crash and burn. It would capture the screen as I did a short talk (about 30 seconds). I then clicked stop and waited to review my small video. However, both times I tried it, the program closed (regretfully, according to Microsoft). It seems that Microsoft’s DEP (Data Execution Prevention) thinks Jing is bad for me and my computer.
There was a link Microsoft provided to troubleshoot the problem. They said to go into the Advanced System Properties and click through a few tabs and browse to find the .exe file and allow it (many tedious steps). I did all of this only to get the message that they couldn’t accommodate my request—very frustrating!
I then tried a video capture on my XP machine and it worked just fine. So I will post this on the Jing blog or help center to see if there is a fix or work-around for this.
I’d be happy to hear your experiences with Jing and what you use it for. I can see a use for it to show a client how to perform an action. For example, a client was having difficulty seeing my editing changes in a word document. I sent her the step-by-step instructions, but a visual would have been much better. If any of you are tech support to family members, using Jing could come in handy for showing them how to fix something.