You might be familiar with the clock in the lower-right corner of your screen, but did you know that area is officially called the “Windows Notification Area”? There isn’t much to look at down there, but if you see the SMART Tools icon (the white circle looks like a peppermint LifeSaver), then you are only a few clicks away from some fabulous presentation tools you can use any time.
Let’s start with the Screen Shade: This puts a shade over your entire screen, so you can selectively reveal whatever you like. Using the handles, pull the shade from the top, bottom, left, or right. Close it with the white and red X button.
Next is the Spotlight. Imagine that you are showing your class a website, and you want to highlight only a certain area of the page. Select Spotlight and you can use a circle/ellipse, rectangle/square, or star shape to highlight a certain area of the screen. Use the spotlight icon itself to move the bright area, and use the dropdown (to the right of the spotlight) menu to change the transparency and shape. Click and hold on the blue frame to adjust the shape and size.
The Magnifier is a big help when you are trying to enlarge the web address for a site you are demonstrating, but it also allows you to enlarge any area of the screen to show details. Be careful of the amount of magnification you use–too much, and you only see big pixels. I like the button with the red rectangle in it. That button allows you to easily see the area being magnified.
Calculator is just a link to the Windows calculator (nothing too fancy); Pointer is a relatively unimpressive arrow, and Screen Capture Toolbar is the same toolbar you have in Notebook. If you capture something using this toolbar, Notebook automatically opens and the image is pasted on a blank page. From there you’ll have to copy to another program if you wish.