June, 2006

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use Windows PowerShell to start a service on a remote computer? -- NA Hey, NA. You know, a few years ago a professor named Francis Fukuyama wrote a book called The End of History and the Last of Man , a book which stated...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’ve been playing around with Windows PowerShell , and I find it interesting. However, I have a problem. I’d like to use PowerShell as a quick way to get information about an Active Directory user account, but I can’t...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I move a computer from an unknown OU into a known OU? -- DB Hey, DB. You know, a lot of people take a look at system administration scripting and think, “Well, it might be useful, but it sounds kind of boring.” After all...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I write a script that prevents the screensaver from coming on? Sometimes I get interrupted for a couple minutes (say I get a phone call or something) and the screensaver kicks in, which promptly locks the computer. Is there...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I dynamically add controls to an HTA? -- TR Hey, TR. Dum-de-dum-dum. Dum-de-dum-de - oh, wait : you were talking to us , weren’t you? Sorry; we saw the word “dynamically” and figured this question must have been addressed...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of available metadata for Microsoft Office documents? -- JR Hey, JR. If we understand your question correctly, you’d like to know if it’s true that July 21, 2006 will mark the 500 th Hey, Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file where each line is a set of characters like this: 56A63, 78A41, etc. I need to put leading zeroes in front of these strings in order to make them all nine characters long: 000056A63, 000078A41, etc. Oh: and my text...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I write a script that accesses all the subfolders in my Outlook Inbox? -- MB Hey, MB. You know, after you’ve written a daily scripting column for nearly two years (have we mentioned the Hey, Scripting Guy 500th column celebration...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I check to see if a file exists on a remote computer even if that file isn’t in a shared folder? -- SP Hey, SP. You know, the Scripting Guy who writes this column had minor periodontal surgery this morning. (Well, maybe...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add multiple tables to a Word document? -- KH Hey, KH. You know, if the Scripting Guys have one failing (hey, we said if ) it’s this: we’re simple guys with simple tastes. Create a Microsoft Word document with multiple...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I populate a list box with the CNs of all the OUs in my domain? -- AK Hey, AK. That’s an interesting question, AK, and we’ll do our best to answer it. Of course, we should point out that the United States soccer team has...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy all the comments from an Excel worksheet to a Word document? -- ED Hey, ED. You know, one of the drawbacks to calling yourself a “Scripting Guy” is that people assume you’re really more of a Scripting Fanatic. Every...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I insert text into a specific column of a text file? I don’t want the text to be inserted at the beginning of a line or at the end of a line, but at a specific spot in the line. -- D Hey, D. You know, over the past two years...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of the unique words used in a Microsoft Word document? -- RK Hey, RK. Funny you should mention unique words. Last Saturday the Scripting Coach’s baseball team played in the city championship. Despite the importance...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a right-to-left text box to a Web page? -- B Hey, B. To begin with, we should note that we aren’t entirely sure that we know what we’re talking about here. (Good point: that’s a disclaimer that could be added to all...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I retrieve a list of all the files that have no file extension? -- JB Hey, JB. Funny you should ask about no-hitters. Yes, it’s true: the Scripting Son was robbed of a no-hitter this past Saturday. With one out in the top...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I return the URLs associated with my Internet Explorer Favorites? -- DW Hey, DW. It’s time for annual performance reviews here at Microsoft, which means we Scripting Guys are supposed to be looking back and detailing all...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I configure the system failure options on a Windows Server 2003 computer? I’d like to configure the machine to do a small memory dump, and disable both the sending of an administrative alert and the automatic reboot. -- JS...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I find the process ID associated with a batch file? -- MB Hey, MB. You know, the Scripting Guys are firm believers in recycling. Why throw that printout away when it can be recycled into newsprint? Why throw that aluminum...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I copy a file 150 times and then rename each of those copies using a list of names found in an Excel spreadsheet? -- DF Hey, DF. You know, when we first started this column 2 years ago (must be time to mention the 500 th...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I locate all the instances of a particular file (like budget.xls) on a computer? -- MN Hey, MN. Did you know that former heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman has 10 children, 5 sons and 5 daughters? It’s true. But...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the tables in an Access database? -- KW Hey, KW. You know, the best part about writing a daily column on system administration scripting is that people only see the finished result; they never see all the detours...