Instead of re-typing long, painful error messages whenever you are trying to Google for a solution, did you know you can simply use Ctrl+C to copy the text of the message to the clipboard?

If you want to test this out for yourself, just open Windows Explorer and type an incorrect drive letter into the address bar, and you’ll get an error message immediately.

Just hit Ctrl+C whenever you get an error message prompt, and then you can paste it into notepad (or anywhere you’d like)

Personally I prefer to paste the error messages into a blank notepad window so I can select just a portion of it for pasting into Google. This is also a perfect way to copy your error messages when you are asking for help

This tip should work in Windows Vista or XP or 2003.