Real About Visual Basic veterans might remember how to code clever little DOS batch programs that would automate your PC. Before Windows (Can anybody remember that now?) there were whole books written about DOS batch files because they were simple and anyone could whip out one of these little text files with Edit. (Edit is what programmers used before NotePad and it's still available if you want to try it. Just enter "Edit" at a DOS command prompt.)
You weren’t any kind of techie unless you had written your own batch file to start your favorite programs from a DOS menu. "Automenu" was one of those kitchen table startup companies back then. Knowing that we could get excited over - "Gee Whiz" - the ability to start programs from a menu should help you understand why Windows was so revolutionary.
But in fact, the early versions of Windows took a step backward precisely because they didn’t give us a "Windows" way to create this type of desktop automation. We still had batch files - if we were willing to ignore Windows. But if we wanted to use Windows, the joy of writing a simple piece of code that made your computer more personal just wasn't there.
All that changed when Microsoft released WSH – Windows Script Host. It’s a lot more than just a way to write simple programs. This short tutorial will show you how to use WSH, and we'll dig into how WSH is much, much more than DOS batch files ever dreamed of being by showing how to use WSH for hard-core computer administration.
