I was really tired of using Windows DOS command prompt and had heard of “Windows PowerShell” (cue thunder and lightening in the background). Had a hunt around and found the “Scripting with Windows PowerShell” 5 part video tutorial done by Ed Wilson who has written a couple of books on the subject. Hurray I thought. I’m not new to Windows DOS command prompt but I am a newbie to Windows PowerShell so I thought I’d start at the beginning. Jesus! How to make a potentially-dull subject *really dull*. This guy is really, really boring… “and hey like ya’know". I got about 9 minutes through the first hour-long episode, before I had to switch it off. He had spoken for 10 minutes and had said pretty much nothing. I couldn’t bear it any longer. I needed a break before I threw something at my monitor! And to think this is only part one of five hour long episodes. I span forward a bit an there were “…like some really amazing and cool features…” which were copies of normal Unix functions but done slightly differently and frankly slightly worst but you have to work with what you have, so stop complaining! I thought that I would take one for the team and watch the presentations, strip out all the incessant babble so that you wouldn’t have to waste 5 hours of your life.

• Scripting with Windows PowerShell Part 1
  Windows PowerShell: Working with processes, services, and event logs
• Scripting with Windows PowerShell Part 2
  Windows PowerShell: Sorting, grouping, and formatting output
• Scripting with Windows PowerShell Part 3
  Windows PowerShell: Working with Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) information to retrieve essential information
• Scripting with Windows PowerShell Part 4
  Windows PowerShell: Retrieving information from remote computers
• Scripting with Windows PowerShell Part 5
  Windows PowerShell: Basics of converting PowerShell commands into scripts

Update: Wrote this article a year or 2 ago and I’m not doing as much Powershell these days. I thought about going back and transcribing the final chapter but the thought of it fills me with dread so I will leave it as an exercise for the reader!