February, 2008

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of all the users in an OU who are not a member of a specified group? -- TJ Hey, TJ. You know, the Scripting Guys are having so much fun with the 2008 Winter Scripting Games that we just can’t bear to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have tens of thousands of files that all have a file name that includes a number bounded by two underscore characters; for example, P_19_L00.jpg. I need to figure out which number is embedded in a file name, then move that file to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I see that it is pretty easy to generate a GUID using Windows Script Host . But how can I do this using Windows PowerShell? -- DL Hey, DL. Before we begin we’d like to announce that the Scripting Guys are looking for 158...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I create a script that will list all the files in a directory that have a specific value in a specific cell of an Office Excel workbook? And can that be expanded into a find/replace function? -- RDC Hey, RDC. Now that...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a bunch of reports and log files that are saved as Microsoft Word documents. I’d like to be able to search for a specific word in one of these documents (e.g., the word “Failed”) and then change the background...

Hey, Scripting Guy! have a folder that has a whole bunch of files in it. Many of those files have a file name that includes an incorrect date; for example, the file might be named FGA Site Visit 2-14- 07 204.jpg when it should really be named FGA Site...

Hey, Scripting Guy! My manager does not like appointment reminders; therefore every meeting request she sends is without reminders. I like reminders and I try to remember to turn them on, but sometimes I forget; that means that if I'm not on top of my...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m trying to determine – and mark – the first occurrence of a number in an Office Excel worksheet. However, I can’t figure out how to go about doing this. Can you help? -- BH Hey, BH. Before we launch...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Here’s what I would like to do. I would like to put a script in the SendTo folder that would enable a user to easily change the file extension for a file. (Typically our users hide the file extensions, which makes it difficult...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I’m trying to use regular expressions to extract three-digit numbers that are enclosed by pipe characters; they embedded in string values like this: |159|468|572|843|. However, I can’t figure out the syntax that will get...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use a disconnected recordset in Windows PowerShell? I’m able to create the recordset without any problem, but I can’t figure out how to reference the fields and values in that recordset. -- JVDL Hey, JVDL. Well, we must...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have an HTA that asks users to either click a button to install some software or click Cancel . Sometimes, though, users don’t do either one; they just let the HTA sit there. Is there any way to show the HTA for a set amount of time...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I really enjoyed the 2007 Winter Scripting Games, but one thing I noticed is that you listed the deadlines for all the events using Redmond time. I understand that you can’t list deadlines using the local time for every time zone in...

Hey, Scripting Guy! have a comma-separated values file that includes several different fields. I’d like to be able to read this file from Windows PowerShell and then sort the information on one (or maybe more) of these fields. However, I can’t seem to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a text file in which each field has a bunch of extra spaces tacked on to the end. How can I remove all those extra spaces? -- GC Hey, GC. Well, today is Monday, February 11 th , which can mean only one thing: the 2008 Winter...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I read your column about the HTA that could load and then display all the files in a folder. That was pretty useful, but I had an idea to make it even better. When looking at a log file I often see portions of the log that I’d...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We’ve added a number of custom properties to the summary information pages of our Office Excel files. How can I access those custom properties using a script? -- UR Hey, UR. You know, the Scripting Guy who writes this column almost...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I read a list of computer names from a text file, and then check to see if those computers still exist in Active Directory? -- CL You know, that’s a good question, CL, we – hold on a second. Some of you out there look so sad;...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I just read your article about getting Word documents statistics and would like to know if there is any way of getting the number of sentences and paragraphs per document. -- RLP Hey, RLP. To be perfectly honest, now that the Super...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a bunch of log files (all in the same folder) that I periodically need to review. What I thought would be really cool would be to have an HTA that, when it starts up, retrieves all the log file names and displays those names...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is there an easy way to randomize the selection of .wav files at the startup and shutdown of windows? -- DW Hey, DW. Last night as the Scripting Guy who writes this column was on his way home he stopped at a red light. (Which...