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More advanced PowerShell developers and administrators need more advanced tooling, and PowerShell Studio 2015 from Sapien is the first place to look. PowerGUI does not seem to have been updated for a while, but that does not make it any less useful, and since it is freeware, you have nothing to lose by adding it to your arsenal.įreeware maintained by turbobuild since January 2017.
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There was once a paid edition of PowerGUI with more advanced features, but that edition was rolled up into the freeware product. These range from adding users to managing switches they can be customized and further improved upon, or simply baked into whatever script you are currently writing, saving the time it would take you to reinvent the wheel. Perhaps the most useful features of PowerGUI are the Power Packs: Pre-built scripts that have been open-sourced by the user community and made available to other PowerGUI users. Perfect for those who are new to PowerShell but have a basic grasp of its concepts, PowerGUI is an easy-to-use script editor that will probably advance your understanding of assembling more complex and advanced scripts quicker than anything else - especially if you are a visual learner. It makes assembling scripts and getting things done in PowerShell as simple as selecting cmdlets that are appropriate for your task and then dragging them into place. Presumably left over from Dell's 2012 acquisition of Quest, PowerGUI is a visual complement to PowerShell. And best of all - they are all free, save for one excellent paid product. Whether you're writing scripts, working in a DevOps-oriented environment or administering software from vendors other than Microsoft using PowerShell, there is something for everyone in this group of resources.
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In this slideshow, I will highlight 9 resources for immersing yourself in the PowerShell world. Luckily, there are other resources available that will help speed you along in your training and your professional responsibilities. Sometimes, though, it is difficult to know whether you are proceeding correctly.
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With everything in the newest versions of Windows Server accessible primarily via PowerShell and only secondarily (and sometimes even not at all) via the server's GUI, PowerShell knowledge has become a must. A simple blue window and some text has transformed the world of Windows administration from a point-and-click GUI to scripts that automate everything, as well as provide log rotation and identity lifecycle management and which server receives which updates.
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