Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell if a date falls within a specified time period? -- JW Hey, JW. By amazing coincidence on our way to work this morning we heard two different commercials, from two different companies, touting “Christmas in July.”...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have an application that installs a WMI class named UIDLightInfo. That class includes a property named UIDLightState. How can I tell whether or not I can change the value of this property? -- JC Hey, JC. You know, we once reviewed...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In your HTA examples, you show us how you can click a button and cause a single subroutine to run. How can I add two or more subroutines to the onClick parameter for a button? -- FM Hey, FM. You know, there’s an interesting branch...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a script that opens nine different command windows in order to monitor performance. How can I tile those windows horizontally after they’ve all been opened? -- AM Hey, AM. You know, one of the Scripting Guys might not be...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I retrieve a list of the System DSNs on a computer? -- RT Hey, RT. You know, there’s an old Hollywood superstition that suggests that famous movie stars always die in threes: if a famous star dies today, then according to...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine if the local administrator account has been renamed on a computer? -- KF Hey, KF. You know, our first thought was to tell you to use ADSI and try to bind to the local administrator account on the computer; if...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the current screen resolution being used on a computer? You know, things like 1600x1200 resolution, 16-bit color, that kind of information. -- FE Hey, FE. Remember when you were a kid and your mom would have...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine the date and time that a process started? -- BM Hey, BM. We’ve got good news for you: not only do we have an answer to your question, but we’re not going to bore everyone with any more stories regarding our Colt...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I retrieve information about the printer driver used by a specific printer? -- RW Hey, RW. Did you say something? Oh, right: printer drivers. You’ll have to excuse us today: the Scripting Guys (well, one of them anyway)...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine when an Active Directory user account will expire? -- JK Hey, JK. By the way, please accept our apologies for hiding under the desk and pretending we weren’t in when your question arrived; we always get a little...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I write a script that will automatically share all the local printers on a computer? -- CD Hey, CD. You know, when we redid the Hey, Scripting Guy! archive we created a new category devoted exclusively to printing. When...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I delete an Active Directory object that contains other objects? -- TS Hey, TS. Ah, yes, the dreaded “objects that contain other objects” dilemma. Is there a way to delete an Active Directory object that contains other objects...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I change the user information in Microsoft Office to match the user’s name as stored in Active Directory? -- SM Hey, SM. Back in the days when one of the Scripting Guys worked for a local university, every document in one...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I tell which version of the .NET Framework is installed on a computer? -- MW Hey, MW. You know, every now and then people say to us, “Wow, you guys write a daily column about system administration scripting; you must be...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Is it possible to use a script to monitor changes to a registry key? I’d like to be notified any time someone makes changes to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run key. -- SB Hey, SB. And by the way...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I use a script to rename a printer? -- SB Hey, SB. Well, if your printer is connected to a Windows 2000 or Windows NT 4.0 print server we have bad news for you: you can’t rename a printer using a script, at least not using...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I get a list of the ODBC drivers that are installed on a computer? -- VV Hey, VV. This is one of those questions that end up driving us crazy. That’s because it: a) seems so simple and, b) appears as though there are a number...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I cause a user’s password to expire? -- GB Hey, GB. You know, one thing people dislike about politicians is that any time you ask them a question many politicians will give you an answer to a different question. Even worse...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I determine when a user last changed his or her password? -- MG Hey, MG. A long time ago one of the Scripting Guys worked at a local university. In one of the departments there it was easy to determine when a user last changed...

Hey, Scripting Guy! Here’s what I’d like to do: I want a script that will launch two executable files. After the first application closes I’d like the script to close the second application and then quit. How can I do that? -- MK ...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I add a line to the top of a text file? -- FT Hey, FT. You know, at one point in his career Sir Arthur Conan Doyle actually killed off Sherlock Holmes, figuring he’d written everything anyone could ever write about the master...

Hey, Scripting Guy! I have a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet I periodically analyze using a script. How can I change the color of a cell to red if the date stored in that cell has passed? -- DM Hey, DM. We were going to start today’s column off with some...

Hey, Scripting Guy! How can I list all the attributes used by the Computer class in Active Directory? -- KP Hey, KP. Thanks for your question. In response, yes, it is true that the Kirkland Fire, the Colt League baseball team coached by one of the...

Hey, Scripting Guy! We have a number of OUs in our domain that have the word Servers in the OU name. How can I retrieve a list of those OUs? -- AM Hey, AM. One of the Scripting Guys has a 15-year-old son who, whenever he hears his father tell a story...

Hey, Scripting Guy! In my HTA, how can I get the actual text of a list box or dropdown list option? -- MM Hey, MM. You might be familiar with an old Mac Davis song, a song that starts off like this: Oh Lord it's hard to be humble When you're perfect...