Why I do scripting

Use case

There are tasks that, while essential, quickly become repetitive and a "time consumer".

For example, during my first apprenticeship within a group of universities, when receiving a new PC to configure, one of the common steps was to install an antivirus.

If you rely on the manual method, it goes like this:

Total estimation: ~76s.

Access the shared folder

where the antivirus installation file is located (~10 seconds).

Identify the most recent .msi file

among the files (~3 seconds).

Run as admin

to start the installation (~3 seconds).

Click "Next" 3 times

to finalize the installation (~60 seconds).

After doing this a few times, I realized how repetitive and time-consuming this process becomes, especially when there are multiple computers to configure. That’s when I thought: Why not automate all of this?

That’s how I decided to create a PowerShell script. Here’s what it does:

silentinstall.ps1

### © Aaron Pescasio / www.apescasio.fr ###
 
### Check and create the "log" folder if necessary ###
 
$log_folder = "C:\ProgramData\Logs"
if (-not (Test-Path -Path $log_folder)) {
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $log_folder -Force
}
 
### Start transcription ###
 
$date = $(Get-Date -Format 'dd-MM-yyyy_HH-mm-ss')
Start-Transcript -Path "$log_folder\$date-Install-ANTIVIRUS.log" -Force
 
### Check if the ANTIVIRUS program is already installed ###
 
### If the program is not installed, install the most recent .msi file ###
 
$antivirus_folder = "C:\Program Files\ANTIVIRUS"
if (-not (Test-Path -Path $antivirus_folder)) {
    $all_msi = Get-ChildItem -Path "\\adds01\ANTIVIRUS\" -Filter "*.msi" | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending
    $newest = $all_msi[0].FullName
 
    Write-Host "Installing the most recent ANTIVIRUS: $newest"
 
    ### Install the .msi file silently (no graphical interface) ###
 
    Start-Process -FilePath "msiexec.exe" -ArgumentList "/i `"$newest`" /qn" -Wait
 
    Write-Host "Installation completed."
} else {
    Write-Host "ANTIVIRUS is already installed."
}
 
### Stop transcription ###
 
Stop-Transcript

In just a few lines of code, I transformed a repetitive task into a simple automated action.

And that’s what I love about scripting: saving time, reducing errors, and above all, making tasks more efficient.