Little things that make live easier #5: Navigation the Windows Registry with Powershell

It's possible to navigate the Windows Registry with Powershell

PS C:\> cd HKLM:/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/PowerShell PS HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell> ls Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell SKC VC Name Property --- -- ---- -------- 4 2 1 {Install, PID} PS HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell> cd 1 PS HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1> ls Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1 SKC VC Name Property --- -- ---- -------- 0 1 0407 {Install} 0 6 PowerShellEngine {ApplicationBase, PSCompatibleVersion, RuntimeVersion, ConsoleHostAssemblyName...} 1 0 PSConfigurationProviders {} 2 0 ShellIds {}

Little things that make live easier #4: writing colored text in cmd.exe

A constant source of frustration when using cmd.exe is that it seems impossible to write colored text easily, unlike other shells (although I don't consider cmd.exe to be a shell). Yet, if powershell is installed, then it's possible to write such colored text. Here's a powershell script (c:\temp\colors.ps1):

write-host "" write-host " " -noNewLine write-host "Warning" -foregroundColor red -backgroundColor yellow write-host " " -noNewLine write-host "-------" -foregroundColor blue write-host " Wearing headphones doesn't" -foregroundColor red write-host " make farts silent." -foregroundColor red

When executed with something like

powershell -executionpolicy bypass c:/temp/colors.ps1

It prints