Preface

Microsoft introduced Visual Basic, Scripting Edition-commonly known as VBScript-in the mid-'90s, positioning it as a native replacement for Windows' aging command-line batch language, which was based on Microsoft's earliest operating system, MS-DOS. VBScript was intended to be easy to learn, powerful, and flexible. The language was included as an add-on to Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0, was an optional installation component included in Windows 98, and was included in all editions of Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

Software developers immediately seized upon VBScript for Web programming, particularly in Active Server Pages, Microsoft's rapid-development programming framework for the Web. However, Windows administrators-one of VBScript's initial target audiences-were left cold. VBScript seemed to be much more complicated than administrators' beloved MS-DOS-based batch language, and many didn't see the need to learn an entirely new batch language.

When Windows 2000 and Active Directory came along, however, administrators found that Windows administration had become a great deal more complex. Suddenly, administrators were searching for Resource Kit and other utilities that offered automated administration, especially for repetitive tasks. Active Directory enabled the use of VBScript for logon and logoff scripts, which seemed to promise more advanced use environment manipulation. At around the same time, Microsoft's naïveté in releasing a powerful language like VBScript with absolutely no security controls resulted in a huge wave of high-impact VBScript-based viruses, forcing administrators to lock down their environments and remove VBScript as an option both for viruses and for administrative tools.

As a regular speaker at some of the country's top technical conferences that focus on Windows technologies, including MCP TechMentor, the past few years I've given half- and full-day sessions on VBScripting for Windows administrators, and the sessions have been incredibly popular. In these sessions, I try to provide just enough VBScript experience to make scripting possible, and then concentrate on accomplishing common administrative tasks with VBScript. I also cover the security concerns of VBScript and provide administrators with the means for safely using VBScript in their environments. This book is essentially a written form of those sessions, greatly expanded with more coverage of Windows Management Instrumentation and other advanced topics, and with more coverage of VBScript security issues and resolutions.

I'm not out to turn you into a programmer. In fact, one of the real successes of VBScript is that you don't need to be a programmer to use it. Most of what you'll be doing in this book involves using VBScript to tell Windows to do things for you; you'll be able to ignore much of VBScript's complexity, using it as a sort of electronic glue to combine various operating system functions.