My favourite program for screencaps has been "Irfanview" (
www.irfanview.com) for some time.
Actually, if it's running, you can screen capture directly to it, but otherwise it's PrintScreen (Prt Scr key), and then run it and paste.
Outline the section you want and choose CROP (I think it's the edit menu - still not got my full toolkit installed on the machine).
The clever trick, you can also select a section and apply the PIXELATE filter, to hide things you don't want - looks really "PRO" compared to "paintbrush" paint-outs.
Can save in JPEG (good for pictures), or in GIF or PNG (good for text and precise graphics).
I usually try a colour reduction to 256 before PNG, if it doesn't look too awful.
Irfanview will probly be faster and more direct than doing these tasks in a fancy art package - and like all my favourite suggestions, it's free **for personal use**