Windows power users have always envied their friends running UNIX machines for the ease of automation that they enjoy. The traditional Windows command-line shell, cmd.exe, has never been up to par with shells like bash or tcsh, especially when it comes to text processing and process automation. Windows PowerShell changes all that. This next-generation shell is also a full-blown scripting environment with a real programming language that allows users to access every part of their operating system. Files, registry entries, and COM and .NET objects are all supported by PowerShell, which makes manipulating them a breeze. Pro Windows PowerShell will show you how to use all this power in your own work. You'll discover the object-oriented features of the shell and how they help in extracting and manipulating data. You'll then learn how to use those features to solve real-world problems: manipulating files, working with text, monitoring systems, and performing operations over the network. The book serves as not only a tutorial, but also a reference: the "Real World" part is structured so that it can be read nonlinearly and used as a reference or a cookbook. And you'll find freely available tools and extensions that will help you do things even faster. Pro Windows PowerShell is your best companion to the capabilities and power that PowerShell offers you. What you'll learn * See how to solve real problems with Windows PowerShell using a repository of working code. * Get a sense of "the big picture," with PowerShell integrating with the outside world. You will discover examples and techniques when dealing with other programs, the operating system, and the network. * Explore free and open-source tools and extensions that help you get results with Windows PowerShell fast. (No other book has this feature!) Who this book is for Pro Windows PowerShell is targeted at professionals who handle a lot of repetitive tasks. The goal is to show how PowerShell can help script most of those tasks and reduce their burden. The book contains examples on automating typical system administration tasks: configuration, monitoring, network queries, text manipulation, and file operations. The ideas presented will be beneficial to power users needing a better shell and an automation environment, system and network administrators looking to streamline their daily activities, and software developers wishing to optimize their build and deploy process.