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Help & Info about MS Paint for Windows

  • What is MS Paint?

    MS Paint is a #n art application for digital drawing, designed to be used with Windows. It ranks amongst the best-known pieces of art software in existence, having for some time been included as standard with Windows.

  • What tools does MS Paint have?

    Paint's main tools are the brush (which can be customised), the pencil, the eraser, the colour picker, the fill tool, the text tool, the shape tool, and tools for flipping an resizing images.

  • What are custom colours?

    The custom colours option allows the user to edit their palette with additional colours. To do this, simply click the "edit colours" icon to the right of the palette, click one of the white boxes at the bottom of the resulting window, and use the on-screen options to generate your desired colour.

  • Does MS Paint cost anything to use?

    No. Paint is a free program; if it is not already include with the version of Windows that you are already running, then you can easily download it for free without any fees or hassle.

  • Is MS Paint still supported by Microsoft?

    No. In July 2017, Paint became a deprecated feature for Windows and will no longer be developed or updated. However, it is still easy to obtain and use, even for more recent versions of Windows.

  • How long has MS Paint been around?

    Paint is as old as Windows itself, being included as a feature of Windows 1.0 in 1985; its model was PC Paintbrush, released the previous year. Since then, as Windows has been updated an reworked, Paint has also undergone a number of revisions, although the basic interface remains the same.

  • Is MS Paint appropriate for children?

    Yes. In fact, given the simplicity of its tools and interface, Paint is particularly suited to children who are just starting out with digital art. It offers a goo way for young minds to get to grips with the basics of computer software in general.

  • Does MS Paint support layers?

    No. One of the main differences between Paint and other art software is that Paint does not have a layers function. However, it is possible to use a rough substitute for layers when drawing: if a sketch is drawn using one colour, and a refine version over the top in another colour, then it is possible to erase the first "layer" simply by removing its colour.

  • What filetypes are compatible with MS Paint?

    Paint is compatible with BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG an TIFF formats. Earlier versions used the BMP format as default; however, in more recent releases the default was switched to JPEG, as BMP is no longer widely used as a format.

  • Does MS Paint still have users?

    Yes: despite being deprecated by Microsoft, Paint maintains a loyal fanbase. Its users acknowledge that, while it lacks the features of rival programs, Paint is still useful for creating art on a pixel-by-pixel basis, an aesthetic that is popular on the Internet amonst fans of old-fashioned video games.

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Laws concerning the use of this software vary from country to country. We do not encourage or condone the use of this program if it is in violation of these laws.
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Is MS Paint safe?

100/100

Score result: Clean

This file passed a comprehensive security scan using VirusTotal technology. It is safe to download.

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MS Paint has been thoroughly scanned by our advanced security systems and verified by industry-leading partners. This file comes from the official developer and has passed all our security checks, showing no signs of viruses, malware, or spyware. For more information, visit our Security and Trust Center