Generate a list of installed programs with PowerShell code

The Tip of the Night for August 29, 2018, explained how to run a Windows command to get a list of software installed on your PC. Subsequent experience has shown that the wmic command doesn't generate a complete list. You should have better luck with the PowerShell posted here by FelixGill.

Open PowerShell ISE, and in the console put in this code:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate | Format-Table –AutoSize

Then simply press enter. A list will be generated showing the name of programs you've installed, the version, publisher and install date.

Script to Copy Data and Rename It

A very simple Powershell script can be used to copy files from one folder and save them renamed in another folder.

The simple command, 'Copy-Item' will accomplish this task. Simple follow it by the path to the source file name and the new file name.

So a script like this:

Copy-Item "C:\FooFolder\Picture1.png" "C:\FooFolder\NewFolder\ScreenGrab1.png" Copy-Item "C:\FooFolder\Picture2.png" "C:\FooFolder\NewFolder\ScreenGrab2.png" Copy-Item "C:\FooFolder\Picture3.png" "C:\FooFolder\NewFolder\ScreenGrab3.png" Copy-Item "C:\FooFolder\Picture4.png" "C:\FooFolder\NewFolder\ScreenGrab4.png"

. . . will copy the .png files to the new location. 'New Folder', renamed as 'ScreenGrab1.png'; 'ScreenGrab2.png'; 'ScreenGrab3.png'; and 'ScreenGrab3.png'

counts totals in multiple .csv files

Lazy Win Admin has posted a PowerShell script here that you can use to add up totals given in column A for values in column B in multiple .csv values. The script will compile the counts given in column A even when there are duplicate entries in column B.

So in this example I have two .csv files which show the number of home runs each major league baseball player hit each season (Batting.csv) and how many home runs each player hit in each post season series (BattingPost.csv).

Enter the script below into PowerShell ISE (x86), and be sure to edit it so it includes the path to the directory with your .csv files and matches in the headings in the files.

The script will generate a new window adding up the numbers in the first column for each unique entry in column B.

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\FooFolder\powershell\*.csv | # Get each CSV files ForEach-Object -Process { Import-Csv -Path $PSItem.FullName # Import CSV data } | Group-Object -Property Name | # Group per Domain Name Select-Object -Unique -Property Name, @{ Label = "Sum"; Expression = { # Sum all the counts for each domain ($PSItem.group | Measure-Object -Property Count -sum).Sum } } | Sort-Object -Property Sum -Descending | Out-GridView -Title "Top Domains"