January, 2008

Hey, Scripting Guy! I understand that I can use Windows PowerShell and the Get-Unique cmdlet to determine which items are unique in a collection. However, I want to do the opposite: I want to determine which items are not unique in a collection. How can...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have an HTA in which I do a search and create a table with the results. The search takes quite some time, 30 seconds or so. The results are displayed within a span and show up only once the search is complete. I would like a message...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need a script that can read all the values in a spreadsheet and then change the background colors of the cells in that spreadsheet based on a range of values. For example, if the value is less than 20 the cell gets colored one color;...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Your article " Managing Disk Quotas in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP " is quite good but it leaves out one important detail: how can you specify an unlimited disk quota for a user? -- CA Hey, CA. You know, it’s funny. When...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I schedule an all-day event in Microsoft Office Outlook? -- RL Hey, RL. Have you ever heard the expression “every dog has its day”? Well, if you haven’t, the idea is that sooner or later everyone will...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file in which each line begins with a number. How can I sort the contents of that file by those numbers? -- KT Hey, KT. Tell you what: we’ll go ahead and answer your question. However, in return, you have...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is there any way to permanently change the priority of a process? If there isn’t, how can I write a script that will monitor for new instances of this process and then change the priority each time the application runs? -- AM Hey...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script that reads through a text file and then checks a folder to see if all the subfolder names listed in that text file actually exist. (For example, if the parent folder is C:\Scripts the script might check to see if a...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m trying to import a spreadsheet into an Access database. The problem is that the spreadsheet has multiple worksheets. I can import the first worksheet without any problem, but I can’t figure out how to import all the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use Excel’s Find method to search for values within a worksheet? -- SK Hey, SK. Before we begin today, we have a question for you, and for everyone else out there in Scripting Land. Back when the Scripting Guys first started...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Using Windows PowerShell, how can I replace all the asterisks in a text file with some other character? -- RC Hey, RC. You know, a lot of people ask the Scripting Guy who writes this column, “How do you do it? How do you...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a bunch of Word documents in a folder. I need to open each document, read in some information from the first two lines, then use that information to rename the file. However, I’m having some trouble getting this to work. Can...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Awhile back you showed us how we could use Windows PowerShell to retrieve data from a Microsoft Access database. I’m now trying to add data to a database using PowerShell, but I can’t get the script to work. Any chance you could show...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I search a computer for a folder, and return the folder’s complete path? -- AW Hey, AW. We know a lot of you have been sitting on pins and needles, waiting for this announcement, so we won’t waste any time: yes, the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have an application that repeatedly runs a test and writes the result of each test pass to a Microsoft Word document. Periodically I’d like to be able to use a script to tally up the number of times a test passed, the number of...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the duplicate files (that is, files with the same file names) in a folder and its subfolders? -- GK Hey, GK. We have to apologize, but you picked a bad day to ask a question. That’s because the Scripting...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I reset the revision number of a Microsoft Word document back to 1? -- JL Hey, JL. You know, a lot of people think the Scripting Guys have lost their edge. “You guys used to write all these crazy scripts that used all these...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to get a list of all the users in an OU and its subOUs, then change their email addresses so those addresses only user lowercase letters. How can I do that? -- TB Hey, TB. You know, we had to think twice before going ahead...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I need to “clone” a local group; in other words, I want to create a new group that contains the same members as the original group. However, I can’t find any sort of copy command that would let me do this. How can I copy the membership...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a domain group to a local group? -- DR Hey, DR. Before we begin today, any chance that we could borrow $5 billion, at least until the next payday? Admittedly, it’s not our habit to go around asking for money, especially...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have an Access database that we use to keep track of resources that are associated with all of our projects. Periodically I need to go into the database and delete all the records tied to a particular project. Is there any way that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a problem and I haven’t quite figured out how to solve it. I have an Active Directory group, and I’d like to remove some users from that group; in particular, I’d like to remove all the users whose user accounts...