April, 2006

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use the RunAs command to run a script under alternate user credentials? -- BE Hey, BE. You know, in the business world one of the hot topics these days is synergy. For example, after The Mighty Ducks became a hit movie...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have some text files that include Unicode characters. When I try to open those files using a script all I get back is gibberish. How can I open a text file as Unicode? -- FA Hey, FA. You know, the truly great magicians don’t concoct...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I count the number of words in a text file? -- LA Hey, LA. You know, this is one of those questions where the Scripting Guys outsmarted themselves. (Not that outsmarting the Scripting Guys is particularly hard to do, mind...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the path to the folder where a script is running? What I’d like to do is have the script automatically open the folder where the script is running. -- PD Hey, PD. You know, for the Scripting Guys this question...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all my Internet cookies? -- ZO Hey, ZO. OK, we have to admit it: you tricked the Scripting Guys, and we fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. As soon as we saw your email - and the word “cookies” - there was...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I open a Word document, read the first three characters, and then rename the file using those three characters? -- DG Hey, DG. To tell you the truth, we always get a chuckle any time we get a question that asks for our help...

Hey, Scripting Guy! When using a script to return members of the local Administrators account, how can I distinguish between local users and domain users? -- KS Hey, KS. You know, many years ago there was a TV game show called What’s My Line? The premise...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the name of the local computer using WMI? -- BM Hey, BM. As you noted in your email we Scripting Guys always tell people that, in WMI, you can simply use a dot (.) to refer to the local computer. For example...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In an Excel spreadsheet, how can I locate and replace information for a specific computer? -- BB Hey, BB. You know, there’s an old saying that goes, “If all you have is a hammer then everything looks like a nail.” Well, all we Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I change the Title property of a .WMA file? -- LL Hey, LL. Here’s a piece of trivia for you. Originally, the Beatles’ classic Yesterday was titled Scrambled Eggs . (Start singing the song, but instead of singing “Yesterday...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a table and automatically fill the first column in that table with a range of dates? -- DG Hey, DG. You know, back in the old days we would have been a bit nervous about answering this question. Why? Well, it seems...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file containing latitudes and longitudes. The numbers look like this: 36000000. I need to format these numbers so they look like this: 36.000000. How can I reformat numbers using a script? -- BE Hey, BE. You know,...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell whether or not a computer has a CD named MyApps in it? -- CB Hey, CB. You know, this is one of those questions that the Scripting Guys almost feel bad about answering. Why? Well, at first glance this sounds like it...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a bunch of Windows Server 2003 computers in our organization. Some of these computers are running Windows Server 2003 R2 and some are not. How can I tell which of our Windows Server 2003 computers are running R2? -- TX Hey...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have an HTA where information gets written to a text area. How can I print just the information found in that text area? -- DS Hey, DS. We want you to level with us here: are the Scripting Guys dead? We ask that because we saw...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I save a disconnected recordset? -- RW Hey, RW. You know, the Scripting Guys believe in keeping things as simple as possible. For example, when one of the Scripting Guys had to buy a new tie several years ago, he simply...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I convert a number in Excel to a date; for example, how can I convert 40806 to 4/8/2006? -- JM Hey, JM. You probably didn’t know this, but one of the Scripting Guys has a brother who’s an actor. As every actor knows, nepotism...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add an Edit command to the context menu for an HTA? That way, any time I right-click an HTA file I can click Edit and then open the file in Notepad. -- TC Hey, TC. You know, one of the Scripting Guys once had a friend...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I select a column of data in Excel and then paste that data into a text file? -- GT Hey, RR. You know, if you’re like most people, any time you hear the words “Scripting Guys” you undoubtedly think of two things: elegance...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the files on a user’s desktop? -- BT Hey, BT. So you thought you could fool the Scripting Guys, did you? Well, you did, at least for awhile. As is so often the case with the Scripting Guys we took one look at...