The new site will be undergoing a lot of changes throughout this transition period, but the new Windows Scripting Forums are already live and ready for use.

http://forums.windowsscript.com/

You can also stop by the new site at http://www.windowsscript.com/ and subscribe to the mailing list in order to receive email updates of site additions.

“I am running Windows XP. I need to execute VBS scripts to run functions in other programs. I had no problem until some security program disabled execution of VBS Scripts. Now all I get is code Notepad and the VBS Scripts don’t execute. How do I get Windows to execute VBS Scripts again?” - Peter A.

Peter, if double clicking your VBS files results in them opening in Notepad, your security application has disabled VBS execution by changing the default application used to open the VBS file. In Windows, this is managed by File Associations. Let’s take a look at how to restore the default VBS File Associations. (more…)

http://twitter.com/WindowsGuru

(more…)

“Is there any way to release and renew a dynamic IP address in WSH?” - Chris. F

Releasing and renewing dynamic IP addresses can be a very effective method of repairing a broken internet connection. Effectively, you are instructing your network adapter to request a new IP address from a DHCP server. While the Windows Script Host doesn’t provide any method of doing this directly, the Windows Management Instrumentation, or WMI, does. (more…)

“Hey, Windows Guru, how do you run Mac OSX on a PC. - Matt C.

Hey, Matt. Whether you’re looking for a more secure operating system on PC hardware or simply trying to set up a test bed for your applications, there could be several different reasons why you might want to find a way to run the Mac OS X operating system on a PC. Although I am a “Windows Guru”, as it turns out, I have two different ways to accomplish this. (more…)

“Is there any way to mask the passwords that my users enter when running my Windows Scripts?” - Steve. P

Password masking is a method of hiding a user’s keyboard input so that another person cannot see what’s being typed on screen. This security measure helps to ensure that “shoulder surfers” can’t gain passwords by simply looking over someone’s shoulder. There are two different ways that password masking can be implemented from within the Windows Script Host environment. (more…)

“Hey, Windows Guru. How can I make it so that my VBScript event routines are only executed after a certain point in my script?” - Sam M.

Sam, you’ve asked an awesome question that you probably won’t find much documentation for. However, I have a really cool solution for you. (more…)

“How can I read the contents of a Microsoft Word document using VBScript in WSH?” - Bill S.

Reading the contents of a Microsoft Word document in WSH is actually pretty simple. You can use any language you like with this method, but I’ll be using VBScript. (more…)

“I cannot change the desktop background or wallpaper. When I select a new one in desktop properties nothing happens.” - Erin V.

Erin, I’ve been getting this question a lot recently. This is most likely due to a virus or malware. There are currently several bugs that like to make adjustments to local security settings that can result in this behavior. (more…)

I use the ? an : operators when writing PHP. Are there similar operators available in VBScript? - Bill S.

Let me first give a basic introduction for those readers who don’t know PHP and may not understand what we’re talking about here. PHP allows you to make quick decisions using the ? and : operators. These logical operators are known as Ternary Operators and allow you to take a shortcut approach to a simple conditional block. A ternary operation returns the result of an expression. Therefore, it is most commonly used for a variable assignment. In php, the syntax looks like this: (more…)

How do I strip windows down to be faster on my laptop? - James M.

This is really kind of a loaded question. It’s highly dependent upon what you mean when you say “strip down”. My basic response to this would be to disable unnecessary services and removed unneeded components. (more…)

Can you call a WSH script from within an existing VBS WSH logon script?- Cheryl J.

Hello, Cheryl. Quite simply, yes you can. There are a couple of methods for doing this. I’ll show you the easiest two first and then I’ll document a third, more robust way, in a future article.

(more…)

I was talking with a friend earlier tonight about monitors and resolutions and got to wondering why, out of all standard (non widescreen) native resolutions, 1280×1024 is the only resolution that does not have a 4:3 aspect ratio. Why is it not 1280×960 to keep in theme with the beloved 4:3 ratio?- Nick H.

Nick, the 1280×1024 resolution is known as Super eXtended Graphics Array (or SXGA) and is designed not to have a 4:3 aspect ratio.

(more…)

I had a registry tweak for Windows XP that made it shut down faster. Is there a shutdown tweak for Vista?- Chilion F.

The popular Fast Shutdown tweak for Windows XP was used to change the default timeout for programs and services that would not end. This allowed hanging programs to be closed sooner making for a faster shutdown experience.

(more…)

Is there any way to open the new Office 2007 file formats in older versions?- Tony S.

Microsoft Office 2007 introduced a new set of file specifications known as Office Open XML format. These XML based file formats greatly improve document interoperability between Microsoft Office documents and other applications.

(more…)

On any shortcut, if you right-click, you can set the properties for a shortcut key. Type Shift+Alt+anyletter and assign that shortcut. But when you type Shift+Alt+thatkey it does nothing. What am I missing?- Greg N.

Greg, it sounds like you created your shortcut in the wrong place. Shortcut keys can only be assigned to shortcuts that exist on your desktop.

(more…)