DOWST.DEV

September 29, 2023

Announcements!

Windows Terminal Preview 1.19 Release (devblogs.microsoft.com)
The Windows Terminal team is back with a new preview release! Windows Terminal Preview 1.19

introduces new features such as Broadcast Input, Web Search, the Suggestions UI and more!

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By: Christopher Nguyen submitted:Sep 29 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Create Calculated Properties in PowerShell with Select-Object, Format-Table, and Format-List (mikefrobbins.com)
PowerShell offers a range of cmdlets and functionalities that allow you to format and manipulate

data in countless ways. One such feature is the ability to create calculated properties using Select-Object, Format-Table, and Format-List. Calculated properties allow you to create custom objects, enabling more effective data management and presentation.

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By: Mike F Robbins submitted:Sep 29 2023

Create Web Link with PowerShell in Intune (itconstructors.com)
Web Link is a simple way to publish URL shortcuts in Intune. It allows the administrator to control

which URL shortcut appear on user's mobile device either without user consent or as an optional application. The way to create it is fairly simple, you can look at Microsoft's documentation. Recently I had a need to ...

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By: Wiktor Mrowczynski submitted:Sep 29 2023

Getting Started with 365AutomatedLab Part 1 (clatent.com)
Adding/Removing Users Adding Users With 365AutomatedLab, you can add as many users with their

primary licensing as you need at one time. Currently, the Microsoft Dev Environment only allows 25 lice...

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By: Clayton Tyger submitted:Sep 29 2023

How to Create Dynamic Administrative Units with PowerShell (office365itpros.com)
A reader asked how they could create dynamic administrative units for every department in their

directory. A PowerShell script does the job, even if some constraints in how Entra ID processes membership rules means that the rules can't be quite as precise as I would like them to be.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Sep 29 2023

How to Monitor New Members Added to Teams (office365itpros.com)
I was asked how easy it would be to write a PowerShell script to monitor new teams members and

reject any additions that met specific criteria. Easy, we said, so we set to creating a script to interrogate the unified audit log to find new member events. Once that was done, it's a matter of analyzing the events to find if we should reject the addition of any of the added members.

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Sep 29 2023

PowerShell class definition pros, cons, and performance comparison (blog.danskingdom.com)
There are 3 different approaches that can be taken to defining classes and enums in PowerShell. In

this article we will compare the pros, cons, and performance of each approach.

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By: Dan Schroeder submitted:Sep 29 2023

Quick Use of OpenAI – End Processes (clatent.com)
Here is a quick use of OpenAI / ChatGPT to remove Windows processes. If it doesn't get it right the

first time, it usually is a good enough base to only need an edit or 2 for simpler scripts.

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By: Clayton Tyger submitted:Sep 29 2023

Resolve PowerShell paths that do not exist (blog.danskingdom.com)
In this post we'll see how to resolve a file or directory path, even if it does not exist.
By: Dan Schroeder submitted:Sep 29 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

How To Deploy a Complete Entra ID Conditional Access PoC in Under 5 Minutes (danielchronlund.com)
This is by far the most substantial time saving tool I've ever shared with the community. From my

many years of working with Conditional Access deployments, baselines, and automation tools, I wanted to package all that knowledge, experience, and best-practices, in a singel fully automated PowerShell tool.

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By: Daniel Chronlund submitted:Sep 29 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Use PowerShell to Automate Backing up and Restoring an SQL Database (youtube.com)
In this video, we demonstrating writing a PowerShell script that backs up an SQL database and

restores the database from a .bak file to a differently named database.

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By: AIP IT Solutions submitted:Sep 29 2023

Community

Controversial PowerShell programming conventions, thoughts? (reddit.com)
What are your thoughts?
By: r/PowerShell submitted:Sep 29 2023

PowerShell Pioneer: A Deep Dive with Microsoft PM Jason Helmick (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
On the latest episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we sit down with Microsoft's very own Jason

Helmick, a celebrated PM on the PowerShell team. Jason takes us on a nostalgic journey through the early days of PowerShell while also recounting his critically acclaimed MVA series with Jeffrey Snover. We hear about his major career shift transitioning to Microsoft and delve into his active involvement in the PowerShell community. Unearthing more PowerShell gems, Jason introduces us to the rising star, Crescendo, and enlightens us about the PSCommunity Call. Not to be missed, we also get clued into the game-changing Azure Cloud Shell. Buckle up for a deep dive into the universe of PowerShell with one of its pioneers, Jason Helmick, on the PowerShell Podcast!

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Sep 29 2023

Upcoming Events

PowerShell and .NET (with Anthony Howell), Wed, Oct 11, 2023, 6:00 PM | Meetup (meetup.com)
At this month's Pacific PowerShell User Group, Anthony Howell (aka ThePoshWolf) will walk us thru

PowerShell and .NET.

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By: Pacific PowerShell User Group submitted:Sep 29 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

September 22, 2023

Announcements!

PowerShellGet 3.0.22-beta22 is now available (devblogs.microsoft.com)
The latest preview of PowerShellGet is now available on the PowerShell Gallery. In this new preview

version of PowerShellGet, PowerShellGet is a compatibility module that allows use of PowerShellGet 2.x (and below) cmdlet syntax with PSResourceGet functionality by making a best effort mapping between the cmdlet interfaces of both versions of the module.

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By: Sydney Smith submitted:Sep 22 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Activate BitLocker with manage-bde, PowerShell, or WMI (4sysops.com)
You can configure various settings for BitLocker using group policies, but this doesn't initiate

encryption. Similarly, it doesn't create the configured protectors that are necessary for activating BitLocker. Manage-bde, PowerShell, or the WMI class Win32_EncryptableVolume serve this purpose.

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By: Wolfgang Sommergut submitted:Sep 22 2023

Centrally Manage Company Contacts and Deploy to Built-In Contacts App Using Intune, SharePoint, PowerShell and Graph API. (thelazyadministrator.com)
I recently met with a company that was looking for a better way to get contacts to their employee's

work phones. Currently, they are sending a .vcf file and then having the employees manually save the contacts. While this works, the problem is if you need to send a new contact, you now need to send a new .vcf file to every employee and instruct them on how to save it. Similarly, if you ever need to remove a contact, you need to instruct your employees to manually delete that contact.

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By: Brad Wyatt submitted:Sep 22 2023

Check for PowerShell module updates (powershellisfun.com)
Last year, I wrote a blog post about updating your modules to the latest version, including removing

the older versions here. This blog post will show you how to check for updated modules.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Sep 22 2023

Manage Azure PowerShell global settings (4sysops.com)
One of the lesser-known but very useful features of Azure PowerShell is the ability to manage Azure

PowerShell global settings using the PowerShell cmdlets Get-AzConfig, Update-AzConfig, Export-AzConfig, Import-AzConfig, and Clear-AzConfig.

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By: Baki Onur Okutucu submitted:Sep 22 2023

More Property Management Options (jeffhicks.substack.com)
In the last article, I demonstrated how to use a third-party .NET assembly to update a file's

extended properties. The TagLibSharp assembly works great for media files. $f = [TagLib.File]::Create("C:workcircuit-dreams.mp3") $f.tag.title = "Circuit Dreams" $f.tag.Year = 2022 $f.tag.Composers = "Jeff Hicks" $f.tag.Genres = "Techno","Electronic" $f.Tag.Comment = "This is a computer-generated performance" $f.Save() $f.dispose()

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Sep 22 2023

PowerShell: Error Handling with $Error (sid-500.com)
The $Error Variable in PowerShell contains all error objects of the current session. In this blog

post I will carry out some tasks with $Error and show you how $Error can help [...]

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Sep 22 2023

Remove a User from an Azure Resource Group Role with PowerShell and Azure Rest API (techguy.at)
In this post, I want to show you how to remove a User from an Azure Role in Azure Resource Group

with PowerShell using Azure Rest API.

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By: Michael Seidl submitted:Sep 22 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Mega Collection of PowerShell Scripts (github.com)
It includes 500+ useful cross-platform PowerShell scripts located in the Scripts subfolder - for the

command-line interface (CLI), for remote control via SSH, for automation (e.g. AutoHotkey or Jenkins), for context menus, for voice commands (e.g. talk2windows), automatically on startup/login/logoff/daily/shutdown/etc., or simply to learn PowerShell.

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By: Markus Fleschutz submitted:Sep 22 2023

Show-Treemenu (github.com)
Show-Treemenu is a versatile PowerShell function that lets you easily create interactive and

eye-catching terminal menus. Whether you're building automation scripts, managing servers, or just want a slick way to execute your functions, this tool has got you covered.

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By: Dan M submitted:Sep 22 2023

Community

The Matrix of PowerShell: Security and Automation with Researcher Miriam Wiesner (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In our latest PowerShell Podcast, we had an insightful discussion with Miriam Wiesner, a renowned

Senior Security Researcher at Microsoft and the author of "PowerShell Automation and Scripting for Cybersecurity." Miriam, who is juggling her roles as a security expert, an author, and a mom, shed light on her journey at Microsoft, talking about the ups and downs she faced. She extended the conversation to her book-writing experience, wherein she balanced work-life pressures to deliver this authoritative guide on PowerShell Automation and Scripting. The discourse was particularly intriguing when it delved into PowerShell security - an area Miriam is so passionate and knowledgeable about. There was certainly so much to learn from our discussion with her!

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Sep 22 2023

Fun

PowerShell Escape Room (powershell.org)
Why on earth you want to create an Escape Room with PowerShell as backend?
By: Michiel Hamers submitted:Sep 22 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

September 15, 2023

Announcements!

Announcing PowerShell Crescendo 1.1.0 General Availability (GA) (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Announcing the General Availability (GA) release of PowerShell Crescendo 1.1.0, a framework for the
By: Jason Helmick submitted:Sep 15 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Easily profile your PowerShell code with the Profiler module (blog.danskingdom.com)
Premature optimization may be the root of all evil, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't optimize

your code where it matters. Rather than guessing which code is slow and spending time optimizing code that doesn't need it, you should profile your code to find the true bottlenecks. At that point you can decide if the code is slow enough to warrant optimizing.

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By: Daniel Schroeder submitted:Sep 15 2023

Find Account That Sent Emails From Shared Mailbox using PowerShell (thesysadminchannel.com)
In a world where email is one of our main methods of communication for business use, having the

ability to send emails as a "generic user" or shared mailbox helps us hide behind a proxy when needed.

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By: Paul Contreras submitted:Sep 15 2023

Get Action Command Line from Scheduled Task using PowerShell (deploymentresearch.com)
This week I had to find out the command line of a scheduled task from a few hundred machines, to

make sure they had received the correct task, deployed from a Group Policy. Well, PowerShell to the rescue. Here is a small PowerShell snippet that will return the command line from a give task:

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By: Johan Arwidmark submitted:Sep 15 2023

How ChatGPT saved our company $1500 in less than 15 minutes (clatent.com)
Let me set the stage... previously we had a batch file in our startup script to add/remove network

drives. It worked great and didn't have any issues. We moved away from an on-site file server to a c...

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By: Clayton Tyger submitted:Sep 15 2023

How to View and Change BIOS (UEFI) Settings with PowerShell (woshub.com)
You can use PowerShell to view or change BIOS/UEFI settings on a Windows computer. In this article,

we will look at how to use Windows PowerShell to get or change...

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By: Windows OS Hub submitted:Sep 15 2023

Increase maturity of PowerShell script with Mermaid diagram (itconstructors.com)
Intro Recently I had a need to re-write one of my old scripts. It was a simple case: once a month

send an email with the number of received and sent messages from the previous month for a shared mailbox. The original one used Exchange on-prem. The new one connects to Exchange Online. What seemed ...

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By: Wiktor Mrowczynski submitted:Sep 15 2023

Installing PowerShell Side by Side for testing purposes (blog.kilasuit.org)
This is part of a series called Using PowerShell in testing in which I intend to showcase lots of

different ways that PowerShell can used for all sorts of testing. A prior example would be Building A Lab using Hyper-V and Lability - The End to End Example.

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By: Ryan Yates submitted:Sep 15 2023

Using Windows PowerShell Web Access (powershellisfun.com)
It was first introduced in Windows Server 2012, and back then, I was amazed by it, really liked it,

and... It's still there, even in Windows Server 2022. I will show you what it is and how it works in this blog post.

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By: Harm Veenstra submitted:Sep 15 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

DynamicTitle (github.com)
DynamicTitle is a PowerShell module for advanced console title customizations.
By: mdgrs submitted:Sep 15 2023

ImPS (slluxx.github.io)
ImPS is a simple one-file module wrapper to use WPF components in your script without writing

massive amounts of UI code or using XML layouts. It is heavily inspired by ImGUI/DearPyGui to make it as easy as possible to use while keeping the configurability.

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By: Slluxx submitted:Sep 15 2023

tiPS (github.com)
PowerShell tips delivered straight to your terminal
By: Daniel Schroeder submitted:Sep 15 2023

Community

Exploring PowerShell, Braid, and beyond with Bruce Payette (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this riveting episode of the PowerShell Podcast, we sat down with one of PowerShell's creators,

Bruce Payette. Bruce enlightened us on various topics, from the key design principles that spurred PowerShell's success to captivating anecdotes from its inception. We dove into parts of PowerShell that Bruce prides himself on, underlining its growth and capabilities. Bruce's influential book, "PowerShell in Action," was also a subject of our discussion. Lastly, stepping beyond PowerShell, Bruce introduced us to 'Braid,' his intriguing new programming language.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Sep 15 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

September 8, 2023

Announcements!

PSResourceGet Release Candidate is Now Available (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Microsoft.PowerShell.PSResourceGet is a continuation of the PowerShellGet 3.0 project. The release

candidate of this module under the new name is now available on the PowerShell Gallery. This release contains a number of bug fixes. This release is considered "go live" meaning that it is a fully supported release and expected to be of GA quality.

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By: The PowerShell Team submitted:Sep 8 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Bulk License Assignment with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK (practical365.com)
A reader asked how to use a CSV file for bulk license assignment with the Microsoft Graph PowerShell

SDK. We didn't have one to hand, so we wrote a new script to illustrate the principles of how to process license assignments for a set of user accounts (which don't necessarily have to come from a CSV file). We even included some error handling!

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By: Tony Redmond submitted:Sep 8 2023

Cleanup Active Directory groups with PowerShell (blog.it-koehler.com)
Taking care for local Active Directory (if it is still present) is one of the most important tasks,

so you may need also cleanup disabled users from groups. Sometimes you don't want to delete users but only removing them from AD groups is required (often for licensing issues etc.)

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By: Alexander Koehler submitted:Sep 8 2023

Compare two processes using PowerShell (alexandrumarin.com)
Let's unravel the intricacies of using Windows PowerShell to uncover the nuances between two

instances of the same process running on your system. This illuminating technique involves the adept utilization of the Compare-Object cmdlet, revealing insights that might otherwise remain hidden.

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By: Alexandru Radu Marin submitted:Sep 8 2023

Debugging ConvertTo-Json (joshooaj.com)
My co-worker, Jared, who regularly uses MilestonePSTools and builds tools with it brought me an

interesting problem yesterday - an apparent compatibility issue between our SDK and the ConvertTo-Json cmdlet from the built-in Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility module.

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By: Josh Hendricks submitted:Sep 8 2023

Manage AWS Instances – Clayton Errington (claytonerrington.com)
Using the AWS CLI to manage your AWS EC2 Instances in a quick and easy way
By: Clayton Errington submitted:Sep 8 2023

PowerShell: Retrieve and document all Hyper-V VMs (sid-500.com)
In this post I will show how to retrieve all Hyper-V VMs and save the output. This is especially

helpful if you want to bring an overview into your chaos.

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By: Patrick Gruenauer submitted:Sep 8 2023

Seamless HTML Report Creation: Harness the Power of Markdown with PSWriteHTML PowerShell Module (evotec.xyz)
In today's digital age, the ability to create compelling and informative HTML reports and documents

is a crucial skill for professionals in various fields. Whether you're a data analyst, a system administrator, a developer, or simply someone who wants to present information in an organized and visually appealing manner, having the right tools at your disposal can make all the difference. That's where the PSWriteHTML PowerShell module steps in, offering an array of possibilities to suit your reporting needs.

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By: Przemyslaw Klys submitted:Sep 8 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

WinPostInstall (github.com)
A little Post Install PowerShell script that I made for myself. The script takes care of some

commont tasks that most will do anyway after a fresh install.

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By: jhx submitted:Sep 8 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Walkthroughs in the Windows Terminal Repository (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Driving open-source contributions in large projects can be a challenge. As a new contributor, you

might have a great idea for a new feature, or want to help fix a nagging bug, but you don't know where to start. Even with a small project, it can be difficult to find the right place to start writing code.

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By: Mike Griese submitted:Sep 8 2023

Community

Educational Odyssey: From Classroom to Cloud with Michael Bender (powershellpodcast.podbean.com)
In this episode, we have a vibrant conversation with Michael Bender who shares his fervor for

teaching. We take a deep dive into his educational journey, from academia to course creation at Pluralsight, eventually leading him to his role as a Cloud Advocate at Microsoft. We delve into the significant role of positive feedback, and contemplate how the process of teaching can reveal profound self-insights. Lastly, we discover the origin story of his podcast, 'Wired for Hybrid'.

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By: The Powershell Podcast submitted:Sep 8 2023

Upcoming Events

Intro to Modules (with Jeremy Watkins) (meetup.com)
September 13, 2023 - Welcome to the first meeting of the Pacific PowerShell User Group! Jeremy

Watkins will be our first speaker, and we're we're going to talk about "Intro to Modules." Join to learn a little about PowerShell modules and how you can work with them.

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By: Pacific PowerShell User Group submitted:Sep 8 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

September 1, 2023

Announcements!

Azure Automation Run As Account will retire on September 30, 2023 (learn.microsoft.com)
Start migrating to managed identities now!
By: Microsoft submitted:Sep 1 2023

Blogs, Articles, and Posts

Ask Jeff (jeffhicks.substack.com)
Here we are once again at the end of another month. For my North American readers, this means summer

is at an end. I was on the road a lot this summer and feel I didn't have enough time to enjoy it properly. Maybe next year. In the meantime, let's see what we have to wrap up August.

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By: Jeff Hicks submitted:Sep 1 2023

Automate CMG Certificates with PowerShell and Let’s Encrypt (deploymentresearch.com)
Today we're looking at automated management of Let's Encrypt certificates with PowerShell and a CMG.

Let's Encrypt and PowerShell Awhile back I was playing around with Let's Encrypt in order to get as much of my home lab working properly with HTTPS and minimal client configuration. I found many Linux resources and Docker containers to [...]

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By: Andrew Johnson submitted:Sep 1 2023

Convert YAML to JSON with PowerShell Core (meziantou.net)
In this post, I describe how to convert a YAML file to a JSON file with PowerShell Core.
By: Gerald Barre submitted:Sep 1 2023

Fix “The WinRM client cannot process the request” (4sysops.com)
If you work on Windows, one of the common errors you might encounter is when the WinRM client cannot

process a request. Windows Remote Management (WinRM) is a Windows built-in remote management protocol that helps exchange information between different systems. For instance, you can spot it being used in Exchange, WSUS, and Microsoft Teams, especially when you're running PowerShell scripts and other third-party tools.

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By: Jasmin Kahriman submitted:Sep 1 2023

Managing Windows Firewall Rules with PowerShell (woshub.com)
This article covers the basics of managing the settings and rules of the built-in Windows Defender

Firewall with Advanced Security from the PowerShell command line. We'll look at how to...

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By: Windows OS Hub submitted:Sep 1 2023

User Profile Migration Strategy and PowerShell Script with a User Interface (jhouseconsulting.com)
With every deployment, upgrade and migration there are often challenges for how the user profile

data should be handled and moved across. I would like to introduce you to a cheeky PowerShell script with an optional User Interface I created specifically for user profile migrations, but can also be used to backup and restore user.

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By: Jeremy Saunders submitted:Sep 1 2023

Working with Toast Notifications and using PowerShell scripts as button actions (alexandrumarin.com)
Toast notifications are a type of unobtrusive and visually appealing pop-up notification that

appears on the screen of a Windows device. They are designed to grab the user's attention without interrupting their workflow. The term "toast" is derived from the way these notifications resemble a slice of toast popping up from a toaster. Toast notifications [...]

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By: Alexandru Radu Marin submitted:Sep 1 2023

Projects, Scripts, and Modules

Find-AutomationRunAsAccounts.ps1 [OC] (gist.github.com)
This script contains functions to help you identify potential runbooks still using Run As accounts.

- Find-AutomationRunAsAccounts.ps1

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By: Matthew Dowst submitted:Sep 1 2023

PowerShell Adapter Feedback Provider (devblogs.microsoft.com)
This blog outlines the PowerShell Adapter Feedback Provider module
By: Steven Bucher submitted:Sep 1 2023

Books, Media, and Learning Resources

Learn about new and old VS tools on Visual Studio Toolbox! (devblogs.microsoft.com)
Do you like watching videos to learn about new and existing Visual Studio features? Then you should

check out the Visual Studio Toolbox show! Available on both Learn and YouTube, Visual Studio Toolbox is a show that helps you become a more productive developer in VS by highlighting tooling within the IDE and the wider Visual Studio family.

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By: Leslie Richardson submitted:Sep 1 2023

Community

The PowerShell Podcast Unveiling Posh: Exploring James Brundage’s Latest Project (powershell.org)
In our much-anticipated second interview with James Brundage, marking a year since his last

appearance, we delved into a dynamic array of topics. The episode commenced with a rundown of PowerShell Gallery security, addressing listener feedback and co...

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By: The PowerShell Podcast submitted:Sep 1 2023

Fun

Friday Fun with PSQuizzes (jdhitsolutions.com)
Time to get back to the to blog. I've been working through my backlog of projects. These are things

that I started writing or updating but then got pushed to the back of the line. One of these projects is a PowerShell module I wrote as a teaching tool. The idea was to create short...

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By: Jeffery Hicks submitted:Sep 1 2023

Upcoming Events

PowerShell Saturday Hannover (pssat.de)
Samstag, 16.09.2023
By: PowerShell Usergroup Hannover submitted:Sep 1 2023

Do you have a suggestion for PowerShell Weekly? Do you know something that should be included? Let me know in the comments below, or on
twitter.

PowerShell Weekly – Your weekly round up of all things PowerShell

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