Tools for every machine.

There are some tools I find myself adding to every machine I work on. Some of these come from Scott Hanselmans’ Ultimate Tools List. Currently I install the following on every machine :-

I also use a bunch of others (Cropper, Magnifixer, Snippet Compiler etc), but the first list is my ‘MUST HAVES’ on every machine. To make it all a bit easier I put together a short script to copy the apps over to the new machine, install all the apps, do the necessary with reg entries etc. Code is as follows :-

Dim objFS, WshShell, link, bDebug, sDestinationFolder

bDebug = false sDestinationFolder = “C:WindowsKensTools”

Set objFS = CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”) Set WshShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

’ Create the new folders (dont care about errors) On Error Resume Next objFS.CreateFolder sDestinationFolder Err.Clear

’ Copy the files over objFS.CopyFolder “.*.*”, sDestinationFolder, true If Err then Log (“Failed to copy folder over:” & vbcrlf & vbCrlF & err.description) Err.Clear Else if bDebug then Log “Copied folder over” End If

objFS.CopyFile “.*.*”, sDestinationFolder, true If Err then Log (“Failed to copy files over:” & vbcrlf & vbCrlF & err.description) Err.Clear Else if bDebug then Log “Copied files over” End If

’ Do the apps InstallApp “regedit.exe /s “ & sDestinationFolder & “Notepad2n2_shell_integration.reg”, “Notepad2” InstallApp “msiexec /i “”” & sDestinationFolder & “CmdHere Powertoy For Windows XP.msi”””, “CmdHere Powertoy” InstallApp sDestinationFolder & “VNC-4_1_1-x86_Win32.exe”, “VNC” InstallApp sDestinationFolder & “Winzip90.exe”, “Winzip” InstallApp “msiexec /i “ & sDestinationFolder & “CommandBarSetup.msi”, “CommandBar for Explorer”

’ Create the BG Info shortcut Set link = WshShell.CreateShortcut(“C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersStart MenuProgramsStartupBGinfo.lnk”) link.Arguments = sDestinationFolder & “kens_default.bgi /TIMER:3” link.Description = “BGinfo” link.TargetPath = sDestinationFolder & “BGInfo.exe” link.HotKey = “CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+B” link.IconLocation = sDestinationFolder & “BGInfo.exe,1” link.WindowStyle = 1 link.WorkingDirectory = sDestinationFolder link.Save If Err then Log (“Failed to install BGinfo shortcut:” & vbcrlf & vbCrlF & err.description) Err.Clear Else if bDebug then Log “Installed BGinfo shortcut” End If

Set link = nothing Set WshShell = nothing Set objFS = nothing

Sub InstallApp(byval cmdLine, byval appName)

Set oShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set oExec = oShell.Exec(cmdLine)

Do While oExec.Status = 0
	WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
If Err then
	Log ("Failed to install " & appName & " :" & vbcrlf & vbCrlF & err.description)
	Err.Clear
Else
	if bDebug then Log ("Installed " & appName)
End If

Set oExec = nothing
Set oShell = nothing

end Sub

Sub Log(byval Message)

Wscript.echo Message

End Sub


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