We've all gotten error messages in Windows, and we generally all take the same approach to getting to the bottom of the error: by searching the contents of the message in Google. The annoying part of this process has always been that you can't select and copy text in the error message box, so you have to try manually typing out the error message. But the ChuckOp's eXPeriences blog points out there's another, much simpler solution.


Apparently since Windows 2000, you've been able to copy the entire error message to your clipboard by hitting the universal copy shortcut, Ctrl-C (who knew?!). That means the whole process of hunting down obscure error messages—especially those containing cryptic error codes—just got a whole lot easier. Thanks Matthew!

Copy message box text to the clipboard [ChuckOp's eXPeriences]