Microsofta Windowsa Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide

This is the book to use to learn VBScript if you are a network administrator, or a consultant. If you are a "real developer" or if you are a web devleoper, then do not bother. I am in the first group. I have read / looked at several books on vbscript, but they were all too confusing. In many cases, they simply copied Microsoft's documentation --- which lets be honest, dude if I could read that stuff, then I would not be buying a book. What do I like about the book. Well he starts immediately with things that will help me. The first script in the book shows how to list all the admin tools installed on the server. Secondly, I like his stories. The book is actually fun to read, I guess that is why one reviewer, said it was scripting for dummies. I for one, will admit I own several dummies books, and they are fun to read. I actually like Mr. Wilson's sense of humor. Back to the book. The book is not comprehensive. But I do not want or need a comprehensive book on scripting. I need help automating my Windows network --- and this fits the bill nicely. The labs are awesome --- starting out step by step in the first labs, and later in the book, he makes you think --- but not so much you can not complete the lab. The CD that comes with the book has ALL the scripts in the book, as well as an electronic version of the book. I have copied that version to my laptop, and keep it with me for reference. Buy the book. You will be glad you did.

First some background information: I work in a rather large multi-operating system environment and have several sysAdmins working for me. Like most senior level system analysts, I own dozens of books on topics of system administration and programming. I have purchased and read a number of books on windows scripting and was looking for a learning guide for my staff when I came across this one. What this books isn't. 1. A definitive resource guide 2. A programmers refererence manual 3. A beginners programming book I believe the strengths of this book is the way the author breaks down a script and explains each part. The author does a very good job of building on each skill learned as you move from chapter to chapter. The author makes use of typical problems encountered by sysAdmins and demonstrates how scripts can be used to solve those problems. Having gone through the first 17 of 20 Chapters, I have found this book has provided me with an excellent foundation from which to build on my Window Scripting knowledge. Each member of my staff will be receiving a copy of this book.

This is THE book for learning VB ScriptingThe book has labs and practice scripts that relates to real life scenarios.It is written in a matter so it is easy to understand he concepts of scripting.I can recomment this book for anyone that needs to learn VB Script. Both for advanced and beginners.

I wish this book had been out last year. There are a lot of good scripting books out there, but they all start from the beginning, open notepad and start programming. The vast majority of system admins do not learn scripting this way. They learn it by finding scripts on the web and 'making them work'.This book starts out with load this script from the cd. 'This' is a script, these are the elements you have to have, these are 'nice to have' and here is how it works. The first lesson manipulates those elements so you see their importance and the second is what so many people already do, modify the script to make it do something else.The book then begins to provide you with the tools to gather information, monitor and report. From there, it switches over into administration. The tone is friendly and conversational. It clarified things that I had picked up elsewhere but not fully understood until now.It comes with a demo version of Primal Script which I use and enjoy. As a free alternative to notepad that does color context highlighting for VBScript, you can use http://www.crimsoneditor.com

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn windows scripting. Even a proficient scripter may find some gems in this well planned guide.