February, 2006

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the last row in an Excel spreadsheet? I can’t append data to the file unless I know which row to start with. -- TGW Hey, TGW. You know, this is the kind of thing that separates the Scripting Guys from the rest...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I disable a service? -- DS Hey, DS. You know, the Scripting Guys seem to have stumbled upon a great idea. In our last column , we showed people how to disable the LMHosts file. Today, we’re going to show everyone how to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I check to see if a user has a home drive and home directory set and, if they don’t, assign them a new one? -- AM Hey, AM. No, no excuses: the Seahawks had plenty of opportunities to win the Super Bowl yesterday, but they...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I compare the modification date of the local file with its counterpart on a file server and then, if the local file is older, replace it with the version on the file server? -- DC Hey, DC. Let’s see, you want to take something...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine when a USB flash drive gets connected? -- PS Hey, PS. OK, we admit it: the Scripting Guys are lazy. (Especially on a Friday, which is the day when we have to write our Monday column.) There might be a way to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I re-launch Internet Explorer if no other instances are running? -- MT Hey, MT. Thanks for the question. You know, nowadays everyone picks on poor little Internet Explorer (even though the vast majority of Windows users...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I configure a user account so that the user can only log on to the domain using specific computers? -- RB Hey, RB. You know, at one point we had some really good solutions for you; unfortunately, Microsoft’s legal department...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I remove all the formatting from an Excel spreadsheet? -- MT Hey, MT. You know, several years ago one of the Scripting Guys and his family went to the Blizzard Beach water park in Orlando. While there this Scripting Guy...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script that runs off a CD and copies a bunch of files to a computer. However, in order to copy the files I need to know the complete file path, including the drive letter. How can I determine the drive letter for the drive...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I prevent a computer from using the LMHosts file? -- MJ Hey, MJ. You know, this was an interesting one, at least for the Scripting Guys. Not because the script was hard to write; that was actually pretty easy. What was hard...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I search for multiple file extensions in a single WQL query? -- AH Hey, AH. If we understand your question correctly, you want to know if it’s true that the Seattle Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday. Yes...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I convert a DN to this format: finance.fabrikam.com/Users? -- CW Hey, CW. You know, this is a pretty good question; in fact, we should have used it for the Winter Scripting Games . Ah, but, on second thought, maybe it’s...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Using a script, is there any way to determine whether a computer has any USB 2.0 ports? -- RD Hey, RD. Are you familiar with the movie Freaky Friday , where the mom and the daughter switch bodies (and roles)? Well, we have sort...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I log the start time and the end time of the screensaver? -- JS Hey, JS. You know, one of the Scripting Guys (hey, who said “It must be Greg”?) is old enough to remember the days when screensavers first came out. Back then...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I format an Excel spreadsheet so that it retains leading zeroes? -- AS Hey, AS. You know, one of the Scripting Guys still has nightmares about the number zero. Several years ago he got a phone call from a friend of his wondering...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I count the number of times the word Failure appears in a log file? There’s one catch, though: the log file simply writes its events one after another, creating one big, giant line of text. -- FS Hey, FS. According to the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine which account a script is running under? -- KW Hey, KW. You know, it’s been awhile since we started off a column with a bunch of excuses, and that’s been hard on us: after all, making excuses is what we Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I truncate names to a maximum of 16 characters? -- BN Hey, BN. Brace yourself: it’s time for another trip down memory lane. When one of the Scripting Guys was going to college, he took a temporary summer job with the Green...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the items in the Run key in the registry? -- JW Hey, JW. How can you list all the items in the Run key in the registry? Well, to be honest, we’re not going to tell you. Nope, sorry. Not because we don’t like you...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I boldface a specific word throughout a Microsoft Word document? -- SB Hey, SB. You’ll probably find this hard to believe, but when you work with scripts and scripting all day you tend to get a little jaded. You say you...