A quick post today to remind you of a way to make PowerShell even easier to use. PowerShell cmdlets and functions obviously help us get a lot done, and most commands offer a number of parameters to customize what needs to be done. Unless you love typing, you probably would like an even easier way…
Category: PowerShell
Active Directory Group Reporting
I’ve pushed v1.2.0 of the ADReportingTools module to the PowerShell Gallery. The release adds the missing help for Get-ADComputerReport. I’ve also added better documentation and information in warning messages when running commands in the PowerShell ISE or VS Code. To re-iterate, the module is designed to be run from a PowerShell console host. It is…
Active Directory Reporting Tools Released
Over the weekend, I published the 1.0 version of the ADReportingTools module to the PowerShell Gallery. I first wrote about this module a few weeks ago. I’ve made a number of changes since then and felt the module was ready for an official release. I’m continuing to add new features so you’ll want to keep…
Answering the PowerShell Export Challenge
Last month, the Iron Scripter Chairman put out a rather large and complex challenge. The basic premise of the challenge was to export a PowerShell session to a file, and then import it in later PowerShell session. In essence, the save the working state of your PowerShell session. This would include items such as defined…
Cleaning with PowerShell Revisited
Springtime is approaching in North America. Where I live, the snow has finally melted and we have blue skies with warmer temperatures. Of course, this means Spring Cleaning. Time to clear out the winter debris and spruce up the house. For me, this is also a good time for some computing housecleaning as well. I…
Solving Another PowerShell Math Challenge
Last month, the Iron Scripter Chairman posted a “fun” PowerShell scripting challenge. Actually, a few math-related challenges . As with all these challenges, the techniques and concepts you use to solve the challenge are more important than the result itself. Here’s how I approached the problems. Problem #1 The first challenge was to take a…
Better Active Directory Reporting with PowerShell
I’ve been using Active Directory for over 20 years. I was even one of the first 2000 IT Pros worldwide to obtain an MCSE on Windows 2000. Over the years, I’ve used a variety of management tools from command-line tools, to VBScript, and eventually PowerShell. Like many of you, I’ve used the ActiveDirectory module from…
PowerShell Property Sets to the Rescue
if you are like me and spend most of your day at a PowerShell prompt, anything that simplifies that process is worth the time to learn or set up. Even though I am a decent typist, I am more than happy to find ways to type less at a PowerShell prompt. I already take advantage…
Comparing PowerShell Property Names
Recently, I was chatting with my friend Gladys Kravitz about the hassle of comparing objects in PowerShell. Even after all these years. She has a specific use case, but you might also feel the need for a better comparison option. And to be clear, the comparison we’re talking about is not the object’s values, as…
Scaling the Active Directory Log Search with PowerShell
Recently, I posted a demonstration of how to find changes to your Active Directory using PowerShell. This process requires that you search through the Security event log on all your domain controllers. As a few people pointed out, myself included, this has the potential to not scale very well in large environments. I still believe…
Friday Fun: PowerShell Weather Widget
Recently, someone on Twitter turned me on to an resource that could be used in a PowerShell session to display weather information. This is apparently a well-established and well-regarded source. Once I worked out the basics, I naturally wanted to see what else I could do it with. Here’s what I came up with. Everything…
Solving the PowerShell Memory Challenge
I hope you tried your hand at this Iron Scripter PowerShell challenge on reporting memory usage. The basic challenge was to find the total percent of working set memory that a specific process or service is using. Here’s how I approached it, with my usual disclaimer that my solution is not the only or nor…
Searching Active Directory Logs with PowerShell
The last few weeks, I’ve been spending time with Active Directory and automating management tasks with PowerShell. If you go back a page or two of posts, you’ll see some of the scripts and functions I’ve shared. Today, I want to address something that has come up in recent comments related to tracking changes in…
PowerShell Puzzles and Challenges
I just wrapped up presenting to the Research Triangle PowerShell User Group. I gave them a set of PowerShell problems to solve. The idea is that in solving the problem, you improve your PowerShell skills and expertise. Tonight’s problems were not scripting problems. The answers to these puzzles are not limited to one-line commands, although…
My PowerShell Word Count Solution
A few days ago I posted a quick PowerShell puzzle as part of an appearance announcement. Using the about_Splatting help file, what word is used the most frequently? If you can show the top 5 even better. Ideally, your code will treat words like “for,” and “for” as the same. For extra points, create a…