<#

    .Synopsis
        Get the list of scheduled Tasks from Windows 7 or Windows 2008 computers
        
    .Description
        This script displays all the scheduled tasks available in a windows 7 or windows 2008 computer.
 
    .Parameter ComputerName    
        Computer Name(s) from which you want to get the scheduled tasks information. If this
        parameter is not used, the the script gets the scheduled tasks list from local computer.
        
    .Parameter TaskName    
        Name of the scheduled task that you want to query. This is a optional parameter.
        
    .Example 1
        Get-ScheduledTask.ps1 -ComputerName Comp1, Comp2
        Get the scheduled tasks information from listed computers.
    .Example 2
        Get-ScheduledTask.ps1 -ComputerName Comp1 -TaskName "Calibration Loader"
        
        Get the details of given task from Comp1.
        
    .Notes
        NAME:      Get-ScheduledTask.ps1
        AUTHOR:    Sitaram Pamarthi
        WEBSITE:   http://techibee.com

#>
[cmdletbinding()]
param (
 [parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
 [string[]] $ComputerName = $env:computername,
 [string] $TaskName
)
#function to get all scheduled task folder details.
function Get-TaskSubFolders {
[cmdletbinding()]
param (
 $FolderRef
)
$ArrFolders = @()
$folders = $folderRef.getfolders(1)
if($folders) {
 foreach ($folder in $folders) {
  $ArrFolders = $ArrFolders + $folder
  if($folder.getfolders(1)) {
   Get-TaskSubFolders -FolderRef $folder
  }
 }
}
return $ArrFolders
}            

#MAIN            

foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName) {
 $SchService = New-Object -ComObject Schedule.Service
 $SchService.Connect()
 $Rootfolder = $SchService.GetFolder("\")
 $folders = Get-Tasksubfolders -FolderRef $RootFolder
 foreach($Folder in $folders) {
  $Tasks = $folder.gettasks(1)
  foreach($Task in $Tasks) {
   $OutputObj = New-Object -TypeName PSobject
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ComputerName -Value $Computer
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name TaskName -Value $Task.Name
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name TaskFolder -Value $Folder.path
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name IsEnabled -Value $task.enabled
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name LastRunTime -Value $task.LastRunTime
   $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name NextRunTime -Value $task.NextRunTime
   if($TaskName) {
    if($Task.Name -eq $TaskName) {
     $OutputObj
    }
   } else {
     $OutputObj
   }
  }            

 }            

}

Output:

Feel Free to post here if you have any trouble in using this script. Happy to help!!!

Posting them here as I felt worth sharing with my blog readers.

• Exchange 2010: How to Grant Send on Behalf Permissions for a Distribution Group
• Exchange 2010: How to Grant Send As Permissions for a Distribution Group

Thanks to Paul Cunningham for these articles.

Thanks,
Sitaram

Since this is a split by white space operation, I tried below and got bit surprised with the output.

$string = "This is my test string"
$string.split(" ") 

Output:

The output is array which is containing the words plus some spaces in middle. This is not what I expected. After some struggle, I made it to work by using -Split.

Now the working code is…

$string = "This is my test string"
$array = $string -split "\s+"
$array

Output:

Hope this little tip helps. Visit to http://www.powershelladmin.com/wiki/Powershell_split_operator for more examples about using -Split.

[Update]:

The usage for -split is very simple and I believe this is a best suit for simple requirements like the one I showed you above. But if you have something more complex, then you may want to explore the usage of [regedit]::Split() dotnet method.

1. Security:

Internet monitoring software can be a powerful tool in your security arsenal. Good solutions will scan filed downloaded off the internet for viruses, ensuring that infected files are stopped before causing any damage.

This class of software will help to prevent users from visiting malicious sites and exposing the network to malicious attacks. Protecting users from malicious attacks is never that easy. Even blocking access to all but a few reputable sites, might not be enough because the sites can be compromised and infected with malware. Not for the first time has a reputable site been subverted to push drive-by downloads. Internet monitoring software will mitigate these risks by protecting the user on the basis of the threat itself, rather than on where the threat is expected to reside.

2. Information:

Information is a valuable resource to any administrator. If a network is experiencing degraded performance, manually locating the cause can be time-consuming for a busy administrator.

A good Internet monitoring software package will allow you to generate reports that give a detailed view of those machines that are consuming a lot of bandwidth and at what time. Reporting can be drilled down to individual user level as well. By comparing reports over a period of time, the administrator will be able to tell whether there is a need for additional bandwidth or excessive consumption is due to user abuse or a malware infection or botnet.

3. Control:

Having an Internet Usage Policy is essential for effective network management, but the policy itself is only the first step. The policy will also need to be enforced.

With Internet monitoring software the administrator can set rules that block / allow sites based on pre-configured categories, as well as on how reputable those sites are. The administrator can also set usage time and download quotas for specific sites, allowing for efficient bandwidth usage management and preventing excessive bandwidth use by employees.

An admin can still provide network security, gather information and control users’ access without employing any Internet monitoring software, but to do so s/he would need various tools and then still need a lot of time to analyze the information and understand what’s going on.

This guest post was provided by Emmanuel Carabott on behalf of GFI Software Ltd. GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. Learn more about why you need Internet monitoring software.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

$TestPcNames = Get-QAComptuer -Id TEST* | select Name
$TestPCNames | % { write-host "$_.Name" }

There is nothing really wrong with the above code. All it contains is computer names but in object format. For that reason when he is trying to print the computer name, he is getting something like @{Name=TESTPC1}.Name

There he is stuck and now don’t know how to get list of computer accounts(in string format) in a array. This is very basic problem that every system administrator will face when trying to get their hands wet with powershell. I have also gone through this a couple of years back when I am studying ABCs of powershell.

The solution for this is very easy. First get the things printed correctly. You can use either of below one liners for that.

$TestPCNames | % { write-host "$($_.Name)" }         

$TestPCNames | % { $_.Name }

Once you seen them printed as string array(you will noted there won’t be any column header with work “Name”), all you need to do is assign the output to a variable.

$CompArray = $TestPCNames | % { write-host "$($_.Name)" }
$CompArray = $TestPCNames | % { $_.Name }

Now $CompArray contains the list of computers. Hope this little tip helps…

Thought of sharing with Scripting guys…

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/PowerShell-V3-Guru-Don-Jones?goback=%2Egde_140856_member_112620896

When searched in google for this, I found a stackoverflow thread(http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2969321/how-can-i-do-a-screen-capture-in-windows-powershell) where different approaches are described to take a screenshot using powershell. I could make only one method working and the other is having problems. However, the working method has a limitation as I need to explicitly pass the width and height of the screen that has to be captured. If I am interested on whole screen, from where I can get these coordinates? My previous post(Get-ScreenResolution) came handy here. I read the screen resolution details using Get-Screenresolution.ps1 script and passed the output to the function I found in stackoverflow. Now it is working exactly the way I want.

For general usage, I made few more modifications to the code to allow explicitly pass the width and height details using -Width and -Height parameters. There is also another parameter called -FileName using which you can provide the name you want for the screenshot. Don’t provide a file extension here. The script saves the output in PNG format by default. If -FileName parameter is not specified you can see the output in %temp% with Screenshot.png name.

Get-ScreenShot.ps1

[cmdletbinding()]
param(
  [string]$Width,
  [string]$Height,
  [String]$FileName = "Screenshot"            

)            

#Function to take screenshot. This function takes the width and height of the screen that has
#to be captured            

function Take-Screenshot{
[cmdletbinding()]
param(
 [Drawing.Rectangle]$bounds,
 [string]$path
)
   $bmp = New-Object Drawing.Bitmap $bounds.width, $bounds.height
   $graphics = [Drawing.Graphics]::FromImage($bmp)
   $graphics.CopyFromScreen($bounds.Location, [Drawing.Point]::Empty, $bounds.size)
   $bmp.Save($path)
   $graphics.Dispose()
   $bmp.Dispose()
}            

#Function to get the primary monitor resolution.
#This code is sourced from 
# http://techibee.com/powershell/powershell-script-to-get-desktop-screen-resolution/1615            

function Get-ScreenResolution {
 $Screens = [system.windows.forms.screen]::AllScreens
 foreach ($Screen in $Screens) {
  $DeviceName = $Screen.DeviceName
  $Width  = $Screen.Bounds.Width
  $Height  = $Screen.Bounds.Height
  $IsPrimary = $Screen.Primary
  $OutputObj = New-Object -TypeName PSobject
  $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name DeviceName -Value $DeviceName
  $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Width -Value $Width
  $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Height -Value $Height
  $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name IsPrimaryMonitor -Value $IsPrimary
  $OutputObj
 }
}            

#Main script begins            

#By default captured screenshot will be saved in %temp% folder
#You can override it here if you want
$Filepath = join-path $env:temp $FileName            

[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")            

if(!($width -and $height)) {            

 $screen = Get-ScreenResolution | ? {$_.IsPrimaryMonitor -eq $true}
 $Width = $screen.Width
 $Height = $screen.height
}            

$bounds = [Drawing.Rectangle]::FromLTRB(0, 0, $Screen.Width, $Screen.Height)            

Take-Screenshot -Bounds $bounds -Path "$Filepath.png"
#Now you have the screenshot

Usage:

Simple, just run the script from powershell window, you will see the output in %temp%\screenshot.png

Hope this helps… feedback welcome.

Write-EventLog : The source name “XXX” does not exist on computer “localhost”.

I am into similar situation today. What I was doing is trying to write a new event in to Application event log with a Event Source that is not already exists in the computer where I am trying. So the error message makes sense. It is saying the source I am trying to use, XXX doesn’t exists. So, how should get this added to list of available event sources in the computer so that it won’t through the error message again.

After little bit of googling, I found the below method promising.

New-EventLog -LogName Application -Source “XXX”

This command creates a new event source in Application Event log with the name XXX. All I need to do is just use this command once and try the write-EventLog cmdlet with the same source name(XXX). It worked this time.

Hope this little trick helps you…

[Update]

There are some dotnet ways available as well to see if a given source is available in EventLog and create one if needed.

To check if the source exists:

PS C:\> [system.diagnostics.eventlog]::SourceExists(“XXX”)
False
PS C:\>

To create a new source entry in event log:

[system.diagnostics.EventLog]::CreateEventSource(“XXX”, “Application”)

Code:

function Get-ScreenResolution {
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void] [Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
$Screens = [system.windows.forms.screen]::AllScreens            

foreach ($Screen in $Screens) {
 $DeviceName = $Screen.DeviceName
 $Width  = $Screen.Bounds.Width
 $Height  = $Screen.Bounds.Height
 $IsPrimary = $Screen.Primary            

 $OutputObj = New-Object -TypeName PSobject
 $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name DeviceName -Value $DeviceName
 $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Width -Value $Width
 $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Height -Value $Height
 $OutputObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name IsPrimaryMonitor -Value $IsPrimary
 $OutputObj            

}
}

Output:

Hope this helps…

In this script I am using Win32_NetworkAdapter WMI class which has methods for enabling or disabling a given network connection. By default, the script looks for network connections with the name Local Area Connection to perform disable or enable operations. If you want to perform these actions against different network connections(like HP Team#1) you can specify that using -ConnectionName parameter. The -Disable or -Enable parameters are for specifying the kind of operation you want to perform. The script will fail if you don’t find either of them. Similarly, you can use -ComputerName parameter if you want to perform this operation against remote computer. You can also provide the list of computers to this argument. I want you be more conscious while using this script against remote computer. The reason behind it is, if you are attempting to disable the primary network connection in remote computer, the script may not return the success/failure status. The reason is simple, it lost the connection to remote computer because you just disabled it. You may find this script handy when you want to disable non-primary connections on remote computers. Since the primary connection is ON in this case, this can return you the status. I didn’t perform any testing against remote computers explicitly so please do testing in your test lab before trying in production.

Code : Set-NetworkConnection.ps1

[cmdletbinding()]
param (
 [parameter(ValueFromPipeline=$true,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
    [string[]]$ComputerName = $env:computername,            

 [switch]$Enable,
 [switch]$Disable,
 [String]$ConnectionName = "Local Area Connection"
)            

begin {            

if(-not($enable -or $disable)) {
 write-Error " You should select either of -Enable or -Disable switches. Exiting"
 exit
}            

}
process {
 foreach ($Computer in $ComputerName) {
  $Computer = $Computer.ToUpper()
  if(Test-Connection -ComputerName $Computer -Count 1 -ea 0) {
   $Networks = Get-WmiObject Win32_NetworkAdapter -ComputerName $Computer | ? {$_.NetConnectionID -match $ConnectionName}
   foreach ($Network in $Networks) {
    if($Enable) {
     $retval  = $Network.Enable()
     if($retval.ReturnValue -eq 0) {
      Write-host "Successfully enabled `"$($network.NetConnectionID)`" on $Computer"
     } else {
      write-host "Failed to enable `"$($network.NetConnectionID)`" on $Computer"
     }
    } elseif($Disable) {
     $retval  = $Network.Disable()
     if($retval.returnValue -eq 0) {
      Write-host "Successfully disabled `"$($network.NetConnectionID)`" on $Computer"
     } else {
      write-host "Failed to disable `"$($network.NetConnectionID)`" on $Computer"
     }            

    }
   }
  }
 }
}            

end {}

Usage Examples:

.\Set-NetworkConnection -Enable #to enable local network connection

.\Set-NetworkConnection -Disable #to disable local network connection

.\Set-NetworkConnection -Disable -ConnectionName “My network2″ #to disable the local network connection that has the name “My Network2″

.\Set-NetworkConnection -ComputerName MyPC2 -Disable -ConnectionName “My network2″ #to disable the network connection that has the name “My Network2″ on MyPC2

Get-Content C:\mypcs.txt | Set-NetworkConnection -Disable -ConnectionName “My Network2″ #To disable the network connection name “My network2″ on list of PCs in C:\mypcs.txt file

Hope this helps… Happy learning…