How to retrieve a list of programs installed on Windows using PowerShell

Use the following powershell command

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate | Sort-object -Property DisplayName | Format-Table –AutoSize | Out-File \temp\myinstalls.txt

Powershell for finding hotfixes

One liner:

$Session = New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.Session; $Searcher = $Session.CreateUpdateSearcher(); $HistoryCount = $Searcher.GetTotalHistoryCount();$Searcher.QueryHistory(0,$HistoryCount) | Sort-Object -Property Date -Descending | Select Title, Date | Export-Csv -Path c:\temp\hotfixlist.csv

More full version:


$wu = new-object -com “Microsoft.Update.Searcher”

$totalupdates = $wu.GetTotalHistoryCount()

$all = $wu.QueryHistory(0,$totalupdates)

# Define a new array to gather output
$OutputCollection=  @()
             
Foreach ($update in $all)
    {
    $string = $update.title

    $Regex = “KB\d*”
    $KB = $string | Select-String -Pattern $regex | Select-Object { $_.Matches }

     $output = New-Object -TypeName PSobject
     $output | add-member NoteProperty “HotFixID” -value $KB.‘ $_.Matches ‘.Value
     $output | add-member NoteProperty “Title” -value $string
     $OutputCollection += $output

    }

# Oupput the collection sorted and formatted:
$OutputCollection | Sort-Object HotFixID | Format-Table -AutoSize | Out-File c:\temp\output.txt

Further reading
https://github.com/tomarbuthnot/Get-MicrosoftUpdate

How to retrieve the logged on user of a remote machine in powershell

Note: For windows 7 desktop users you’ll need to install the active directory modules for powershell by following the installation steps here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=7887

A better version could be to filter the process for explorer.exe

Get-WmiObject -class win32_process -Filter "name = 'Explorer.exe'" -ComputerName MACHINENAME -EA "Stop" | % {$_.GetOwner().User}

Or if you wish to resolve down to the actual full person's name

Get-WmiObject -class win32_process -Filter "name = 'Explorer.exe'" -ComputerName WDUKLON-0102 -EA "Stop" | % {Get-AdUser -Identity $_.GetOwner().User | Select -Property Name}

For all logged on users though, use the following script…

 https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/d46b1f3b-36a4-4a56-951b-e37815a2df0c
function Get-LoggedOnUser {
#Requires -Version 2.0           
[CmdletBinding()]           
Param            
   (                      
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
               Position=0,                         
               ValueFromPipeline=$true,           
               ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]           
    [String[]]$ComputerName
   )#End Param
Begin           
{           
Write-Host "`n Checking Users . . . "
$i = 0           
}#Begin         
Process           
{
    $ComputerName | Foreach-object {
    $Computer = $_
    try
        {
            $processinfo = @(Get-WmiObject -class win32_process -ComputerName $Computer -EA "Stop")
                if ($processinfo)
                {   
                    $processinfo | Foreach-Object {$_.GetOwner().User} |
                    Where-Object {$_ -ne "NETWORK SERVICE" -and $_ -ne "LOCAL SERVICE" -and $_ -ne "SYSTEM"} |
                    Sort-Object -Unique |
                    ForEach-Object { New-Object psobject -Property @{Computer=$Computer;LoggedOn=$_} } |
                    Select-Object Computer,LoggedOn
                }#If
        }
    catch
        {
            "Cannot find any processes running on $computer" | Out-Host
        }
     }#Forech-object(ComputerName)      
           
}#Process
End
{
}#End
}#Get-LoggedOnUser

Powershell cruise control build output parser

<#
.Synopsis
   Write-XmlPathOutput processes all files in a directory for a given XPath expression and puts the results to .txt files of the same name
.EXAMPLE
   Write-XmlPathOutput -DirectoryPath DirectoryPath -XPath //*/project
.INPUTS
   DirectoryPath - the path to the directory
   XPath - the xpath you wish to use
.OUTPUTS
   .txt text files in the same directory
#>
function Write-XmlPathOutput
{
    [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName='Parameter Set 1',
                  SupportsShouldProcess=$false,
                  PositionalBinding=$false,
                  HelpUri = 'http://merrickchaffer.blogspot.com/',
                  ConfirmImpact='Medium')]
    [OutputType([String])]
    Param
    (
        # Param1 help description
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   ValueFromPipeline=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
                   ValueFromRemainingArguments=$false,
                   Position=0,
                   ParameterSetName='Parameter Set 1')]
        [ValidateNotNull()]
        [Alias("p")]
        [String]
        $DirectoryPath = (Get-Location).Path,

        # xpath help description
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$false, ParameterSetName='Parameter Set 1', Position=1,
                    ValueFromPipeline=$true,
                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
                   ValueFromRemainingArguments=$false )]
        [Alias("x")]
        [String]
        $XPath = "//*/project/@file"

    )

    Begin
    {
    }
    Process
    {
        if ($pscmdlet.ShouldProcess("Target", "Operation"))
        {
            $files = Get-ChildItem (Get-ChildItem $DirectoryPath\*.xml)
            if ($files -ne $null -and $files.Length -gt 0) {
               
                ForEach ($file in $files) {
                 
                  $OutFile = [string]::Concat($file.FullName, ".txt")
                 
                  Select-Xml -Path $file.FullName -XPath $XPath | Select -ExpandProperty Node | Out-File $OutFile

                }
            }

        }
    }
    End
    {
    }
}

Write-XmlPathOutput -DirectoryPath C:\temp -XPath "//*/project/@file"