You can set up screen recording in Windows 10 - The basics!

_{My PC Screenshot of Xbox Game Bar search result}

Screen recording is a computer functionality you could need sooner or later. Whether you want to show your cousin how to use a particular program or you wish to share your gaming performance with some friends online, there could be many uses of screen recording. Since you could need to record a screen sooner or later, it is important to learn how to set up your screen recording tool.

Many users are unaware that Windows 10 has a built-in screen recording tool that can do the job. So you do not have to shill out another couple of dollars to spend on a third-party screen recording tool. The name of this tool is Xbox gamebar. You can easily record your screen as a pro using this powerful free tool. Now lets see how you can launch the game bar and make settings that will facilitate your screen capture experience.

Launching the Xbox Game bar and setting it up

There are at least two ways to launch the Game bar. The fastest way is to use keyboard shortcut. To do this, hit the Win+G combination from your keyboard and that should activate the Game bar. Alternatively, you could use the Search box to the left of your desktop.

On the Search box, type Xbox Game bar and hit enter. Click on the app when it appears to open it (Check image below and thumbnail).

<sub>Screenshot of my Search box


Screenshot of my Xbox Game bar on my Windows 10 Pro OS</sub>

Now that we have opened the game bar app, its time to make some settings and to familiarize ourselves with the game bar layout.

Setting up the Xbox Game bar

I have labelled some of the layouts to make it easy to explain. Check the image below:

_{Screenshot of my Game bar capture settings}

Box 1: This box is used to capture a screen shot. Click it to create a still image of your screen. Alternatively, you can use the following keyboard combination to achieve the same result: Win+Alt+PrtScr


Box 2: This button activates the screen recording feature. Once you click it, the app starts recording your screen. You can still use a keyboard shortcut to do same thing. The shortcut is: *Win+Alt+R


Box 3: If you want to capture sound the same time you are recording the screen, you need to click this icon. It puts on your mic to capture sound. A keyboard combination can still get the work down. That is: Win+Alt+M


Box 4: You can see all the screen recordings you made if you click this box.

_{Screenshot of my Game bar audio settings}

Box 1: You can select the preferred audio input and output devices for your screen captures here. The default windows device is automatically selected. If there are more than 1 audio device, you can make your choice here.


Box 2: The volume of your audio devices is controlled from here. Slide along the volume icon to increase or reduce the volume.


Box 3: Slide along this icon to control the master volume. The settings you make here will definitely affect the strength of your sounds in box 2 above.

_{Screenshot of my Game bar performance report}

The last box in this Game bar is to record and display the capabilities of your processing unit. You can see how % of your CPU, GPU, VRAM (My device has none) and RAM that the game bar is currently using. Of course when I start to capture, it will show how many Frames Per Second (FPS) the video is making. This performance reports gives you an idea of how your devices its rated when it comes to this screen capture software.

Conclusion

In the next presentation, I will demonstrate how to use the game bar to make a real video of my screen - maybe demonstrate one or two things with some apps. Its worth knowing that you should not make an extra budget for a screen recording app if you need one, Windows 10 comes with something free and professional too - the Xbox game bar.

Consulted article

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