A few days ago the Windows Vista Snipping Tool suddenly disappeared from the Windows desktop. Copying this file from my laptop, and also reinstalling Windows Vista, has not been able to restore the program. How can I get the Snipping Tool back?

The Snipping Tool program should have almost definitely been restored with a reinstallation of Windows Vista, so this indicates to me that the problem is likely still located on your hard drive but you may have inadvertently deleted the shortcut to the Snipping Tool which was located on your desktop. Furthermore, since the Snipping Tool is stored within the Windows system directory, as opposed to the Windows desktop, this further indicates that the Snipping Tool icon on the desktop was simply a shortcut as opposed to the actual program. Fortunately, this makes the problem much easier to solve. To restore the shortcut to the Snipping Tool on the desktop we will first need to locate the Snipping Tool program file. Minimise all running programs, so that the Windows desktop is visible. Then, click the Start button and in the search box type “snipping” (without the quotes). The Snipping Tool should appear in the search results. Hold the ALT key and drag the Snipping Tool item to the Desktop (you will notice a tool-tip appears saying “Create link in Desktop”). This will create a shortcut to the Snipping Tool on the desktop. You can now double-click the Snipping Tool icon on the desktop to launch the Snipping Tool program.

However, if the Snipping Tool program does not appear in the search results for the term “snipping” we will need to go hunting for the program. Click the “Start” menu and in the search box type “C:WindowsSystem32″ (without the quotes) and press ENTER. This will open the System32 directory, which is the location where the Snipping Tool is stored. Scroll through the list of files until you find ?SnippingTool.exe?. This is the actual executable program file for the Snipping Tool program. We can now create a shortcut on the Windows desktop to this file. Right-click on the file and select “Create shortcut”. A message will appear saying ?Windows cannot create a shortcut here. Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?”. Click “Yes? and the shortcut will be placed on the desktop. You can now double-click the desktop shortcut to open the Snipping Tool.