To get started, you need to first download a copy of Microsoft Expression Encoder. You can do this by going to this link. This will take you to the Microsoft download center, and all you need do is click on the download button. You may be taken to another page where it will prompt you to download the file. Just go ahead and save it to you computer. Once the file has downloaded, you simply have to click on it to begin the installation process and follow the instructions. During the installation process it will not only install the Microsoft Expression application, but also a screen capture codec, that will allow you to capture the screen and audio from your computer. It will also enable you to save the video you’re recording into a file format you can use later to edit the video.

One you’re done installing the program, you should be able to find it listed as a new program in your start menu. It will be called Expression Encoder Screen Capture or something similar. When the program runs, you may see an informational screen saying the program is limited to only ten minutes of screen capture. This is because this is the standard version of the software, so if you want to record for more than ten minutes, you’ll have to split your video into sections and join them again later. Most instructional videos are less than ten minutes anyway, so this shouldn’t be too big of a deal.

To get the best out of the software, you should probably alter some settings before recording. So click on the “gear” icon, which will open up a settings screen. The best frame rate is about 30fps, so just change that on the drop down menu. Also change the quality to 100. Also if you’re going to be using a microphone during the recording, click on the audio tab, and select the microphone you’re going to be using, and choose a bit-rate of 256.

To start a recording, just click on the red record button. You will get a window on your screen that can be resized to how you want. You can record either the entire screen or just a portion of it. Once you’re ready and happy with your screen size, go ahead and click on record once more to start your recording. Click on stop when you’re done.

Once you have finished a recording you will be presented with another screen where you can choose to open your recording in Expression Encoder 4 for encoding. Choose an output directory on the right hand side of the screen – your desktop might be a good place. Click on file, and then encode, and your video will be created. The standard video type is a WMV file, so you can view your video in Windows Media Player. That’s all there is to it really.

Screen2Exe comes with the option to create a recording of the full desktop or only part of it. The only two options that are available as well before starting the recording are to include audio in the recording and to set a frame rate for it.

A click on the Start Recording button will start the recording process of the computer screen once the parameters have been set (or the default ones left untouched). The program will display a five second countdown before it starts to record the whole screen or the selected window.

A set of post-recording options are available. It is possible to save the screen recording right away to the local computer system, run a frame optimization script to remove unnecessary frames to reduce the size of the output or to open the editing options.

These basic editing options allow a user to add annotations, images, delays, mosaics, to zoom or focus, cut the clip or to optimize the frames. The screen recording can be played in the interface. Once the editing has been done the recording can be saved.

Screen2Exe is a basic screen recording software that should suffice for demonstrations that do not rely on fast moving objects or images. Users who need more options and a selection of other output file formats might want to check out the screen capture software Webinaria, the online desktop recorder ScreenToaster, Debut or Camtasia.