So I'm making the move to PowerShell. It's painful learning such alien (to me) concepts but books like Lee Holmes' PowerShell: The Definitive Guide help a ton. I was fortunate enough to be the editor for Chapters 1-5 and got a sneak preview. It's a fantastic book and can't wait to receive the title, complete with …

When creating a new Active Directory user from the command line in PowerShell, you will likely find yourself using Read-Hosts's asSecureString switch when entering the password. $password = Read-Host "Enter password" -AsSecureString Next, you'll probably look around the Internets for a few hours or so trying …

While researching for a paper I have to write in class about hierarchical data in relational databases, I was reading Joe Celko's book Trees and Hierarchies in SQL for Smarties. In the intro, he mentions a really useful website for validating SQL-92, SQL-99 and SQL-2003. The site is nice enough but could really benefit …

Looking for the T-SQL (somewhat) equivalent to VBScript's FormatDateTime function? I've been too, for years. I finally found it within the CONVERT() function. As stated in SQL Server Books Online: In CONVERT ( data_type [ ( length ) ] , expression [ , style ] ), style is the style of the date format used to convert …

For my final project in my database class at USF, I chose to create a database for a small record label looking to sell albums online as well as provide artist bios, tour information and news. The database, which was scaled down version of a project I worked on in the past, looked something like this: The professor …

Sorry if you wrote via e-mail or left a comment in the past month or so and I didn't respond. I made a DNS change, broke stuff and consequently wasn't notified of any new comments or e-mails. I promise to respond when I get a chance. The DNS change also broke Akismet so I've gotta sift through about 2500 spams too.. …

A friend showed me this and I've used it a few times since. Here's the easiest way to make a service auto start or stop after reboot: chkconfig servicename on to auto-start and chkconfig servicename off to stop auto-startup. Thanks, Lenny! Also, can anyone remind me what command I use to add regular user bins to root's …

I'd like to start this post with a warning: I'm only 29 years old but already have permanent damage to my shoulder caused by overusage while working/playing on the computer. Two years ago, I had to claim workman's comp because I was disabled for a few weeks, barely being able to even stand because of an excruciating …

Update: If you receive "access denied" when attempting to use msg, do the following: Terminal Services Configuration (tscc.msc) -> Open up the properties of the RDP-TCP connection object -> Permissions tab -> Advanced -> Edit the entry you are interested in changing. Thanks to TP at …

Haha worst post title ever.. so very Wal-Mart romance novel-esque. I love it. So I wanted to share the word on the streets here in San Francisco. In attending conferences or hacker parties, here's the stuff that keeps cropping up, filtered to my tastes. The dotcom is coming back I often ask cab drivers about the …