database-tools

Many cmdlets have a built-in -ComputerName parameter that will allow for remote access without using the new PowerShell remoting. For this to work,...

In a previous tip, we showed you how to create a new local admin account using ADSI. On Windows 7 and Server 2008, it is much easier to use net.exe...

Here is a piece of code that will create a local user account and put it into the local Administrators group: $computername = $env:computername #...

To manage local groups, you can think about using net.exe. It may be much easier than using COM interfaces. The next line will add a local user...

Rename-Item can rename hundreds of files in one step. Have a look: $global:i = 1 dir c:\test1\ -Filter cover*.jpg | Rename-Item -NewName {...

You can use a FileSystemWatcher object to monitor a folder and write a log for all newly created files. For example, this can be used as an...

PowerShell can also rename computers. The next example will read the serial number from the system enclosure class and rename the computer...

In a previous tip, we showed you how adding a single comma can change the way functions return arrays. With this trick, you can force a PowerShell...

Normally, PowerShell will not preserve the type of an array returned by a function. It is always reduced to Object[]: function test {...

Here is how you can create new shortcuts, such as a desktop shortcut to PowerShell: $shell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell $lnk =...

You can use Regular Expression patterns to validate function parameters: function Get-ZIPCode { param( [ValidatePattern('^\d{5}$')] [String]...

PowerShell ISE by default saves .PS1 scripts in a highly unusual big endian Unicode encoding. For example, you cannot digitally sign such files.....

You use parenthesis in PowerShell to control an execution order. However, some language keywords are not legal inside parenthesis, like try and...

Try this to remove column headers from a CSV file: $result = get-process | ConvertTo-Csv -Delimiter ";" $count = $result.Count -1...

If you'd like to find out whether an instance of WinWord (or any other program) is currently running, you can try this: (Get-Process winword -ea...

Dir (Get-Childitem) is a simple, but effective way to find files. The following line will find any file or folder called "hosts" anywhere...

To send PowerShell results to Excel, you can use CSV-files and automate the entire process by using this function: function...

If you want a variable to update its content every time you retrieve it, you can assign a breakpoint and an action to it. The action script block...

To open a file in a locked state so no one else can open, access, read, or write the file, you can use the low-level .NET methods like this: $path =...

If you want PowerShell to halt your script at some point, you can simply add this line: $host.EnterNestedPrompt() This will suspend execution and...

To lock your computer from PowerShell, remember that you can launch applications, including rundll32.exe, which can be used to call methods from...

If you don't like creating Regular Expression patterns, here is a trick so you can easily find and extract text: $text = 'The problem was...