When confronted with a cyber crime, it is important to capture evidence.  Why?  Because that posts can be easily deleted or altered.  And once that happens, it is extremely hard to prove that the abusive post was ever there.

Here is how you can capture web evidence, report it and proactively stop the abuse.

Step One – Capture a Screenshot

A screenshot is like a photo of what is currently on your computer screen.  Here are simple instructions of how to capture a screenshot:

• In the top right hand side of your keyboard is a key that says “PRTSC” on it. This is short for “print screen” and is the one you need to press to capture what is currently on your computer screen.
• Open “Paint” which you will find by going to your program list and looking under “Accessories”.
• Click on the “edit” button which will give you an option to “paste”. Click paste and the screenshot should appear in Paint.
• Alternatively, go to www.canprove.com and simplify the process.

Step Two – Storing the Screenshot

Once you have the screenshot on the screen in Paint, you need to save it as an image:

• To do this, click on the “File” button followed by the “Save as” button. This will open a list of folders on your computer and there should be one named “Pictures” or “My Pictures”.
• Click on the folder to open it. The screen will ask you for a name to save the file as and will also ask for the file type. Type in a name for the image such as Cyber1 and label subsequent ones as Cyber2, Cyber3 etc.
• If you wish, you can create a new subfolder inside pictures and label it as Cyber-bullying or Cyber Evidence. Do this by opening pictures, right clicking the mouse and clicking on “New” and then “Folder”. A folder icon will appear and you can type in the name you want to give it.
• Select JPEG as the file format as this is the best one to use.

Step Three – Finding the Stored Screenshot

Finding your stored screenshots is as easy as opening your pictures folder and then the Cyber-bullying folder within it if you decided to create one. The images can then be printed, emailed or transferred onto your camera’s SD card.

Step Four – Emailing the Screenshot

In some cases, you may need to email your captured screenshots to the police, lawyers or other people who are involved in your case. This is a simple process and can be accomplished as follows:

• Open the saved screenshot folder and decide which images you want to send by email. Make a note of their name/number.
• If your email goes through Outlook Express, select the images by holding down the “Control” key and clicking on them. The computer will highlight them for you.
• Right click on one of the pictures and a list of options will appear. Select “Send to” and the computer will open a new email with the pictures attached. All you need to do is type in the email address you want to send them to.
• If using Gmail, Hotmail or similar, open a new email. Look for the option to “Attach” or “Insert” a file and click on this. It will open a list of folders through which you can access your Picture folder. Hold down the “Control” key and click on the images you wish to send.

Providing evidence is an important step to putting an end to cyber-bullying. Get into the habit of saving all abusive communications as outlined above and this can be the difference between failing to stop a cyber-bully and nipping their actions in the bud.

There are new tools such as CanProve www.canprove.com that are being developed to simplify this process and make it much easier to capture the online evidence.