September, 2005

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use a script to determine if a particular patch has been installed? -- GM Hey, GM. You know, not too long ago this would have been a question we might have “accidentally” dropped in the wastebasket and pretended never...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the user logon name for a user named John Smith? -- FR Hey, FR. You know, we’d like to tell you how to determine the user logon name for a user named John Smith, but we can’t: that’s because we have a specific...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I find all the drives mapped to \\server1\share and remap them to \\server2\share? -- H T-S Hey, H T-S. You know, not too long ago Malcolm Gladwell published a book called The Tipping Point . Loosely speaking, the book posited...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I periodically refresh a Web page? -- TZ Hey, TZ. You know, the last couple of weeks have been very difficult for the Scripting Guys; after all, we were positive that one of us would be nominated to become the next Chief...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I access the files in the folder T:\Act and delete any files that have the string “current” somewhere in the file name? -- SC Hey, SC. We have to admit, the notion of deleting anything current has a certain appeal, doesn...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a domain group to the local Administrators group? -- SS Hey, SS. You know, people think of the Scripting Guys as striding powerfully through the world of system administration scripting, confident, almost-arrogant...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I monitor the activity of a process to see if anyone is using it? -- AJ Hey, AJ. You know, this is one time when writing the script is actually the easy part of the answer. Although there are a couple different ways to do...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the groups in an OU? -- MK Hey, MK. You know, sometimes people ask us a question and then immediately apologize for having asked it, believing that the question is “way too easy for you guys.” In turn, that seems...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy column C of one worksheet to column A of a second worksheet? -- JP Hey, JP. Well, that’s easy: you just open Excel, highlight column C, press Ctrl+C, put the cursor in column A1 of the second worksheet, and then press...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I specify a particular window size for my HTA? -- RN Hey, RN. We can’t speak for Dear Abby, Ann Landers or any other daily columnist, but the Scripting Guys are always on the lookout for a question that can be answered using...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I turn off the Service Pack 2 firewall? -- JC Hey, JC. You know, if there’s a drawback to working at Microsoft (and if our manager is reading this we hasten to add that there are no drawbacks to working at Microsoft) it...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use a logon script to remove all mapped drives each time a user logs on? -- VS Hey, VS. You know, we’re glad you specifically mentioned the term “logon script” in your question. Why? Well, one of the drawbacks to mapping...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I open Word with the cursor positioned at the start of a specified line? -- PS Hey, PS. You know, we Scripting Guys have decided that we don’t like Microsoft Word anymore. How come? Well, as Scripting Guys we like to find...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I retrieve just audit failures, warnings, and errors from my event logs? -- OG Hey, OG. You know, just for the heck of it, we decided to check the event logs on one of our computers to see whether this was a task worth doing...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I center text in an Excel cell? -- MV Hey, MV. You know, every now and then we get asked a question and we think to ourselves, “Wow, how many times do you suppose we’ve answered this question?” And, of course, when we go...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In an HTA, how can I remove an item from a list box? -- LW Hey, LW. You know, we Scripting Guys are forward-thinking guys and, as such, we never look back. Did we put an item in a list box? If so, there must have been a darn good...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I clear the logon script path for all my users? -- TF Hey, TF. You know, during in a momentary bout of insanity one of the Scripting Guys once agreed to play his son in an Xbox college football game. “It’s really easy to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I check to see if a user exists in an NT 4 domain? -- PA Hey, PA. You know, if you were to ask us, “How do you back your car out of your driveway?” we’d probably tell you that - after checking all the mirrors - we turn so...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I remotely start an interactive process? -- IS Hey, IS. Well, the short answer is this: you can’t, at least not on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. On those two versions of Windows any processes started remotely run in...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I return a list of all the users whose user account never expires? -- PG Hey, PG. You know, no one - not even his own mother! - has ever claimed that the Scripting Guy who writes this column is a genius. Needless to say...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a shortcut to the Quick Launch tray? -- ZR Hey, ZR. Before we answer this question we need to first answer a different question. And here’s the answer: Frank “Home Run” Baker, who led the major league in homers four...