The Lonely Administrator

Service Management in an Uncertain Economy

Jeffery Hicks — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:59:26 +0000

The first chapter of my new eBook from RealTime is now available online. The Executive Guide to Service Management in an Uncertain Economy is a 4 part series on developing an effective service management strategy. The series is intended to demonstrate what steps you can take to align IT and business goals, cut costs, [...]

Pre-Orders for Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM

Jeffery Hicks — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:41:19 +0000

SAPIEN Press is now taking pre-orders for the latest edition of the popular Windows PowerShell: TFM. The new version, Windows PowerShell 2.0: TFM is really the 3rd edition of our original book. Don Jones and I have worked very hard to make this the most comprehensive PowerShell resource you can have on your book [...]

Get Profiles

Jeffery Hicks — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:19:09 +0000

Keith Hill posted a bit of PowerShell code a few days ago that piqued my interest. I knew that in PowerShell, the $profile variable would list your current profile. PS C:\> $profile C:\Users\Jeff\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 This is handy because it makes it easy to call up my script editor if I need to make a change. But Keith showed that [...]

Is It Friday Yet?

Jeffery Hicks — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:48:56 +0000

Some days the week just seems to drag on and on and on….Like many of you, I can’t wait for the end of the work day on Friday afternoon. But how much longer is it until I can say, in a cliche ridden fashion, “TGIF!” Fortunately I have PowerShell to give me a pretty accurate [...]

PModem and Folder Listings

Jeffery Hicks — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:06:48 +0000

PowerShell MVP Oisin Grehan posted a very promising PowerShell module the other day. He calls it the PModem File Transfer Protocol. It is based on the old bulletin board file transfer protocols of the late 20th century, which I have to admit I fondly remember using. Of course Oisin’s work intrigued me and after playing [...]

PowerPack Challenge 2009 Judge

Jeffery Hicks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:48:00 +0000

If you are an active member of the PowerShell community you may have already seen this announcement, but just in case you haven’t, Quest Software and the guys behind PowerGUI are running their annual PowerPack challenge. You could win a $1000 Amazon gift card. The contest ;runs from October 19, 2009 until November 15th 2009, [...]

Hanging Out My Shingle

Jeffery Hicks — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Way, way back in the day professionals would hang out a painted shingle indicating they were open for business. Even if your literacy skills were lacking you could distinguish between a doctor and an undertaker. Although I think sometimes he did both, but that’s another story. I thought I should officially hang out my “shingle”. [...]

Get-NumberedContent v2

Jeffery Hicks — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:00:34 +0000

I wasn’t completely satisfied with the updated version of my Get-NumberedContent function. You should still refer to the earlier post for details on how to use the function. But I had some issues with the previous version and realized there were a few bugs. I’ve since updated the Get-NumberedContent function. Many of my PowerShell v2.0 scripts [...]

Get-Printer

Jeffery Hicks — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:32:00 +0000

I think Out-Printer is a very handy cmdlet, and one that doesn’t get used much. Pipe any cmdlet to it and the output will be printed to your default printer. You use it the same way you would Out-File except output is printed instead of saved to a file. The cmdlet also has a parameter [...]

Netbook or Tablet? Why Not Both?

Jeffery Hicks — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:04:05 +0000

I recently came across an article describing a very intriguing product that is a combination of tablet computer and netbook. Its called the Touchbook and it is offered by a company called Always Innovating. This small device, about 3 lbs with the keyboard, brags a 10 hour battery life. What I find most intriguing [...]