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Bill Stewart

Bill Stewart is a scripting guru who works with the Enterprise Technology Services group at Indian Health Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has written numerous articles about Windows scripting and is a moderator for Microsoft's Official Scripting Guys Forum. He has also written some useful free tools for the Windows IT community, which are available from his website at westmesatech.com.


Email: bstewart@iname.com

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Author Articles

Searching the Registry with PowerShell

By Bill Stewart, 03/21/2012

Use this Windows PowerShell script to speed up searches in the registry, whether on the local system, a remote system, or multiple remote systems.

4 Challenges of Auditing AD Users and Groups

By Bill Stewart, 02/22/2012

Use this PowerShell script to create a list of users and their group memberships, in record time.

Common Ways to Run Programs on Remote Computers

By Bill Stewart, 01/30/2012

Find out some of the techniques commonly used to run programs on remote computers and their pros and cons.

Use PowerShell to Run Programs on Remote Computers

By Bill Stewart, 01/17/2012

Here's a PowerShell script that provides an easy-to-use, flexible, and secure way to schedule a program to run on one or more remote computers.

How-To: Use PowerShell to Report on Scheduled Tasks

By Bill Stewart, 12/16/2011

Although you can use the Schtasks utility to report on scheduled tasks, it is difficult to use and doesn’t scale well. Here’s a PowerShell script that overcomes these limitations, ...

PowerShell How-To: Emulating Cmd.exe's Set Command

By Bill Stewart, 12/12/2011

If you use PowerShell but miss the simplicity of Cmd.exe's Set command when working with environment variables, give this custom PowerShell function a try.

Clarifying Credential Confusion

By Bill Stewart, 10/24/2011

Learn about two sets of credentials that you might need when renaming a scheduled task with the Rename-ScheduledTask.ps1 script.

PowerShell Script: Rename Scheduled Tasks in Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Vista

By Bill Stewart, 10/24/2011

Walk through a Windows PowerShell script that renames Task Scheduler tasks in Windows 7, Vista, and Server 2008.

Calculate MD5 and SHA1 File Hashes Using PowerShell

By Bill Stewart, 08/17/2011

An easy-to-use tool lets you verify the integrity of downloaded files

Auditing 32-Bit and 64-Bit Applications with PowerShell

By Bill Stewart, 07/26/2011

Auditing computers that run both 32-bit and 64-bit applications can be difficult because their information is stored in different parts of the registry. Here’s a PowerShell script ...

Byte Conversions Made Easy

By Bill Stewart, 04/26/2011

To save time and eliminate calculator errors, use this HTML Application (HTA) to perform byte conversions. It converts values using both factors of 2 (kilo = 1,024 bytes) and 10 ...

Managing ABE from the Command Line

By Bill Stewart, 03/15/2011

Unlike Microsoft’s Abecmd.exe tool, this PowerShell solution lets you to detect, enable, and disable access-based enumeration (ABE) on multiple shares and on multiple computers.

Handling Input in PowerShell Functions

By Bill Stewart, 01/17/2011

PowerShell 2.0 lets you create a function that processes both parameter and pipeline input. Here's what you need to know when you're creating it so that you can avoid some ...

Replacing Strings in Files Using PowerShell

By Bill Stewart, 11/19/2010

PowerShell doesn't have a native cmdlet for replacing strings of text in files, but you can use Replace-FileString.ps1 to fill this void.

Windows PowerShell 2.0 Remoting

By Bill Stewart, 08/25/2010

PowerShell 2.0 offers a new way to connect to remote computers called remoting. When you use remoting to run a PowerShell cmdlet, the cmdlet actually runs on the remote computer ...

Editing and Debugging Scripts with PowerShell 2.0's Integrated Scripting Environment

By Bill Stewart, 05/10/2010

New to PowerShell 2.0, the Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) is a welcome addition. You can edit, run, and debug scripts from the same easy-to-use interface.

Take Control of the PowerShell Console's Colors

By Bill Stewart, 03/23/2010

If you find the colors in the PowerShell console hard on your eyes or if you just want a change of pace, here's how you can change the color of the background and the color of the ...

Running PowerShell Scripts Is as Easy as 1-2-3

By Bill Stewart, 02/19/2010

If you're unfamiliar with PowerShell's "secure by default" philosophy, running PowerShell scripts can be a hassle. But if you follow these three steps, you'll be running ...

Get Information About .msi Files with Just a Few Clicks

By Bill Stewart, 02/10/2010

If you have an .msi file with an obscure filename, you can find out what software program it'll install without using Orca or having to run it on a test machine. Here's a utility ...

Windows Installer at a Glance

By Bill Stewart, 02/10/2010

Here are the basics you need to know about Windows Installer packages and the .msi files they contain.



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