Speaker 1: Ever get this feeling like Windows has these hidden depths
Speaker 1: just waiting to be unlocked, Like there's got to be
Speaker 1: a way to do things faster, smarter, but it's hidden
Speaker 1: behind all this complexity.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Well, that's where I think PowerShell comes in, right.
Speaker 2: Definitely, a lot of people hear PowerShell and yeah, their
Speaker 2: eyes glaze over.
Speaker 1: But it is kind of intimidating, it is.
Speaker 2: But it's like having this secret set of tools to
Speaker 2: make Windows dance to your team exactly.
Speaker 1: And luckily for us today, we've got some excerpts from
Speaker 1: PowerShell step by step to guide us. You know, I've
Speaker 1: always been curious about PowerShell, but never took that plunge. Y,
Speaker 1: So for those of us who haven't, what's the big deal?
Speaker 1: Why is this not just another tech term to intimidate us.
Speaker 2: Well, what's so fascinating about PowerShell is that it brings
Speaker 2: together the best of so many different worlds. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's got the speed, the efficiency of the command line,
Speaker 2: but it's also got the flexibility of scripting, and it
Speaker 2: even borrows some tricks from you know, the user friendly
Speaker 2: graphical tools we're used to.
Speaker 1: Okay, now I'm intrigued, but like paint me a picture here.
Speaker 1: How does this actually play out in the real world?
Speaker 2: Okay, let's say, for example, you need to find every
Speaker 2: single document that's been modified in the last hour on
Speaker 2: your company's server. Okay, doing that manually through like Windows.
Speaker 1: Explorer, yeah, good luck, good.
Speaker 2: Luck with that, right. PowerShell can accomplish that in second.
Speaker 1: Right, So it's like automating the tedious stuff, but on
Speaker 1: a whole other level.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: The book mentions these things called cmdlitz being a core
Speaker 1: part of this whole PowerShell thing. What makes it different
Speaker 1: from just typing a regular command.
Speaker 2: It's all about objects. So think of it like this,
Speaker 2: and a lot of systems, you're just flinging strings of
Speaker 2: text around, right right. PowerShell, on the other hand, lets
Speaker 2: you work with these little packages of information called objects.
Speaker 1: So it's not just move this file. It's here's a
Speaker 1: file object with all its properties. Do what you want with.
Speaker 2: It, exactly like a file object knows things right right,
Speaker 2: Like it knows its size, it knows its creation date,
Speaker 2: it knows who can access it, all sorts of metadata
Speaker 2: and cmdalots are designed to interact with these objects in
Speaker 2: incredibly powerful ways.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's starting to click. A little bit. Now throw
Speaker 1: piping into the mix. It sounds vaguely familiar, like something
Speaker 1: from the Linux world. Maybe you're on the right track.
Speaker 2: So PowerShell takes this concept of piping, you know, taking
Speaker 2: the output of one command and feeding it into the next,
Speaker 2: and it like supercharges it.
Speaker 1: Okay, supercharged. How give me the juicy details.
Speaker 2: Well, remember those objects we talked about. With piping, you're
Speaker 2: not just sending like plain text down the line. You're
Speaker 2: sending these fully formed objects with all their data. This
Speaker 2: means you can chain together cm dealots to perform like
Speaker 2: incredibly complex operations, all in this really streamlined way.
Speaker 1: So it's like assembling your own data processing pipeline, where
Speaker 1: each cmdalot is like a specialized tool refining that information along.
Speaker 2: The way precisely. And to make this whole process even
Speaker 2: more powerful, PowerShell gives you variables.
Speaker 1: A variables, my old friend from programming one to one
Speaker 1: coming back to me.
Speaker 2: They're like containers for your data. So you can store
Speaker 2: the results of a cmdal it in a variable, and
Speaker 2: then you can use that variable in other commands later on.
Speaker 2: It's like having a temporary notepad right there in your
Speaker 2: PowerShell session.
Speaker 1: The book also mentions, PowerShell scripts, those ps one files.
Speaker 1: What's the advantage of saving commands this way instead of
Speaker 1: just you know, typing them out each time.
Speaker 2: Scripts are where things go from like useful to amazing.
Speaker 1: Oka.
Speaker 2: Imagine you've got this series of cmdalos and variables all
Speaker 2: working together to accomplish a specific task, right right. Instead
Speaker 2: of typing that whole thing out every time you need it,
Speaker 2: you save it as a script. It's like having this
Speaker 2: custom tool right ready to go whenever you need it. Okay,
Speaker 2: And if you want to kick things up another notch,
Speaker 2: you got.
Speaker 1: Functions, functions, Okay, I'm ready to level up. What do
Speaker 1: those bring to the table.
Speaker 2: You can think of functions like building blocks right within
Speaker 2: your scripts. So let's say you've got this chunk of
Speaker 2: code that you use over and over again in different scripts.
Speaker 2: Instead of copying and pasting it every time, what can
Speaker 2: you do You make a function? It's this way to
Speaker 2: make your code more modular, more organized, easier to maintain.
Speaker 1: So it's like having this whole library of PowerShell building
Speaker 1: block that you can like mix and match for different tasks. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: that's amazing.
Speaker 2: That's the beauty of it.
Speaker 1: But you know, the book also kind of hinted that
Speaker 1: PowerShell has its quarks, right, don't tell me it's all
Speaker 1: smooth sailing from here.
Speaker 2: Well, you know how it is. Even the most powerful
Speaker 2: tools they have their little quirks, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: One thing that trips up even like seasoned users is
Speaker 2: the syntax. It can be a bit, a bit wet, idiosyncratic.
Speaker 1: Idiosyncratic, you're being diplomatic, spit it out. What kind of
Speaker 1: quarks are we talking about?
Speaker 2: Okay? So, for example, if you want to compare if
Speaker 2: two things are equal, right, you use eq instead of
Speaker 2: like the more common double equal sign that you see
Speaker 2: in a lot of other languages. Oh. Interesting, and it's
Speaker 2: a small thing, yeah, but it can really throw you
Speaker 2: off if you're not used to it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The joys of learning in new life uage, right, exactly,
Speaker 1: even if it's just for talking to your computer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like traveling to a foreign country, right where
Speaker 2: everything seems familiar, right, but the rules are just a
Speaker 2: little bit off.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, So enough theory, right, let's get practical. What kind
Speaker 1: of real world tasks does the book actually walk us through?
Speaker 2: It covers a wide range of situations that you might
Speaker 2: actually find yourself dealing with in a Windows environment. You'll
Speaker 2: learn how to manage files and folders, of course, okay,
Speaker 2: but it goes beyond that. It gets into how to
Speaker 2: manipulate running processes.
Speaker 1: Okay, now we're talking. That's the kind of stuff that
Speaker 1: makes me think, yes, I can finally automate that annoying
Speaker 1: thing that I have to do every week.
Speaker 2: Here you go, yeah, yeah, And it goes even further.
Speaker 2: You can even manage remote servers with PowerShell. Imagine this
Speaker 2: updating software on hundreds of machines with a single script.
Speaker 1: WHOA. Okay, now that's power. But with great power comes
Speaker 1: great responsibility. Right, What about the security implications of this?
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like PowerShell could be a pretty
Speaker 1: tempting tool for someone with you know, less than honorable intentions.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, And the book doesn't shy away from that.
Speaker 2: It talks about what are called execution policies, okay, which
Speaker 2: basically control what kind of scripts can be run on
Speaker 2: a system.
Speaker 1: So it's like a safety net exactly to prevent accidentally
Speaker 1: running a script that could you know.
Speaker 2: Recaffick Precisely. Admins can set policies to require things like
Speaker 2: digital signatures on scripts for example, it's this really crucial
Speaker 2: layer of security, especially when you're talking about, you know,
Speaker 2: a business environment.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. I mean, you wouldn't give someone the
Speaker 1: keys to your server room without you know, making sure
Speaker 1: they knew what they were doing. So after you know,
Speaker 1: diving into all of this, is PowerShell something that you
Speaker 1: think everyone needs to master? Or is it more of
Speaker 1: like a niche tool for it pros? So it's not
Speaker 1: about like turning everyone into a scripting guru, but just
Speaker 1: having that baseline knowledge can make a difference.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, Even if you just understand the basics of PowerShell,
Speaker 2: it can empower you to do things you never thought possible.
Speaker 2: With Windows, It's like, all of a sudden, you can
Speaker 2: speak to your computer in its native language.
Speaker 1: I love that analogy. But look, where does somebody even begin?
Speaker 1: Is this book like the ultimate PowerShell Bible? Or is
Speaker 1: it just the tip of the iceberg?
Speaker 2: Well, Parashell's Step by Step is a fantastic starting point,
Speaker 2: no doubt about it. But the real beauty of Parashell
Speaker 2: is this. It's got this incredibly vibrant online community.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, tell me more about that.
Speaker 2: Oh man, there are countless blogs, forums, there are websites,
Speaker 2: dedicated to this stuff, where people are sharing scripts, they're
Speaker 2: troubleshooting problems, they're basically geeking out over PowerShell. It's a
Speaker 2: gold mine of knowledge out there that's amazing.
Speaker 1: So even if this book doesn't have the answer, there's
Speaker 1: probably someone out there who's faced that same challenge.
Speaker 2: And figured it out exactly. And that's what makes PowerShell
Speaker 2: so exciting. It's constantly evolving. There are new versions, new
Speaker 2: sumdill its, new ways of doing things popping up all
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 1: So it's just about learning a set of commands. It's
Speaker 1: about joining like a community of passionate learners and problem solvers.
Speaker 2: Precisely, it's about unlocking the hidden potential of Windows right
Speaker 2: and finding elegant solutions to everyday challenges.
Speaker 1: Well, you've definitely sold me on Powershelf. Yeah, it's not
Speaker 1: just about saving time or automating tasks. It's about like
Speaker 1: expanding your capabilities and really seeing Windows in a whole
Speaker 1: new light exactly.
Speaker 2: It's about taking control of your technology and making it
Speaker 2: work for you and not the other way around.
Speaker 1: This deep dive has been a real eye opener for me.
Speaker 1: I'm like feeling inspired to dust off the old command
Speaker 1: line and see what kind of PowerShell magic I can
Speaker 1: conjure up.
Speaker 2: And remember the best way to learn is by doing
Speaker 2: start small, experiment, don't be afraid to break things in
Speaker 2: a virtual environment, of course, and just embrace the journey.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic advice to anyone listening who's ready to embark
Speaker 1: on their own PowerShell adventure. Be sure to check out
Speaker 1: the show notes for links to the book and other
Speaker 1: resources we've talked about. Until next time, Happy script Think