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In PowerShell, to measure time, you can simply subtract datetime values from another: $Start = Get-Date $null = Read-Host -Prompt "Press ENTER...

Lines like $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition can be useful to determine the folder in which the current script is stored, i.e. to access other...

Here is a piece of PowerShell code that connects to the local firewall and dumps the open firewall ports: $firewall = New-object -ComObject...

In the previous tip we implemented a timeout using PowerShell background jobs so you could set a maximum time some code was allowed to run before it...

If you’d like to make sure some code won’t execute forever, you can use background jobs to implement a timeout. Here is a sample...

Once a PowerShell script carries a digital signature, you can easily find out who signed the script, and more importantly, whether the script is...

Before you give away a PowerShell script to others, it is a good idea to digitally sign it. A signature acts like a “wrapper” for your...

Certificates can be installed permanently by loading them into Windows certificate store. PowerShell can access this store via its cert: drive. The...

In the previous tip we created new code-signing test certificates both as pfx file and located in your certificate store. Today, you’ll see...

To play with digital signatures, and discover how you can sign scripts and modules, you first need a code-signing certificate. If you can’t get one...

Secure string content cannot be easily viewed: $password = Read-Host -Prompt 'Your password' -AsSecureString PS C:\> $password...

Catalog file support (.cat) is new in PowerShell 5.1. Cat files basically are file lists with hash values. You can use them to ensure that a given...

Whenever PowerShell encounters an error, it emits an Error Record with detailed information about the problem. Unfortunately, these objects are a...

PowerShell functions by default can be overridden anytime, and you can also remove them using Remove-Item: function Test-Lifespan {...

As shown in the previous tip, the secret $FormatEnumerationLimit variable determines how many array elements are shown in output before the output...

When you output objects that have arrays in their properties, only 4 array elements are displayed, then an ellipsis truncates the rest: PS C:\>...

Yet another file system task: list all *.log files in a folder structure, but only to a maximum depth of 2 folder structures: Get-ChildItem -Path...

Here is another file system task that sounds worse than it actually is. Let’s say you need to remove all folders below a given level in a...

Sometimes tasks sound worse than they actually are. Let’s say you need to clear a folder structure and remove all files, leaving empty...

A new PowerShell background thread can do things for you in the background, for example updating your PowerShell window title bar with new news...

Invoke-WebRequest simply downloads the content from any web site. It is then your job to read the content and make sense of it. In the previous tip...

In the previous tip we explained how Invoke-WebRequest can be used to download the raw HTML content for any web page. This can also be used to...

Sometimes, cmdlets automatically display a progress bar. Here is an example of such a progress bar: $url =...

PowerShell comes with a built-in web client which can retrieve HTML content for you. For a simple web page analysis, use the -UseBasicParsing...