Can FRAPS record movies outside of games?

Can FRAPS record movies outside of games? Their web site only talks about recording movies in games, so I'm not sure if it can record movies in other programs such as browsers. I installed it and pressed F9 while playing a video in a browser, and nothing happened. But I saw a few forum posts from people who claimed that they did get it to record their desktop.

If it is possible to record outside of a game, would it be possible to change the recording area, so that it doesn't record the entire screen?

Solution 1:

Yes. Fraps can record movies outside of games. By default, fraps can record everything that is DirectX or OpenGL powered. Media Players can be set to play the movies through OpenGL or DirectX and when done, you can use Fraps native abilities to record the movie.

In addition, you can record the DWM (Areo desktop) which records everything on screen. Although this is much slower than native game recordings, it will work.

You cannot change the recording area from the DWM device. If you need that, there are other tools specifically for doing that. For instance, I bought Camtasia studio for this sole reason, and Fraps for game recordings.