**PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.**
**Good news:** it's preinstalled, **but** the script execution policy is *restricted* (forbidden) by default! To change this: open the *Windows PowerShell (Administrator)* console and enter:
1.**Open the *File Explorer* with your Autostart folder** (usually at: `C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup`).
2.**Copy the script (or a link to it) into this folder.**
1.**Execute scripts only that you trust (and/or where you have checked the code before)!**
2.**Prefer SSH Remoting instead of PowerShell Remoting**
3.**More recommendations by NSA and cyber security centers in the U.S. (CISA), New Zealand (NZ NCSC), and the U.K. (NCSC-UK) can be found here:** https://media.defense.gov/2022/Jun/22/2003021689/-1/-1/1/CSI_KEEPING_POWERSHELL_SECURITY_MEASURES_TO_USE_AND_EMBRACE_20220622.PDF
**Your current terminal application doesn't support Unicode characters used by those PowerShell scripts. Use a modern one such as *Windows Terminal*, please.**
**Make sure PowerShell is installed, then execute: `chsh -s /usr/bin/pwsh USERNAME`. In case you experience an "invalid shell" error, add "/usr/bin/pwsh" to /etc/shells.**
**Execute: `./set-profile.ps1` in the *Scripts* subfolder, this will install **my-profile.ps1** as your PowerShell profile. It's a nice looking base profile, but can easily be changed to your needs.**
* **On Windows:** open Settings > System > About > Advanced system settings > Environment Variables, edit the user's variable "Path", and add the full path to the Scripts/ directory.
* **Visual Studio Code** - it supports syntax highlighting, on-the-fly problem checking and an integrated PowerShell Console (available for free on Linux, Mac OS and Windows, now recommended by Microsoft).
* **PowerShell ISE** (Integrated Scripting Environment) - the former official PowerShell development environment included with Microsoft Windows.
* **PowerShell Studio** - a powerful PowerShell IDE with module, help, and user interface development tools, high DPI support and regular updates.
* **PowerShell Plus** - an all in one IDE.
* **Atom package** - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Atom.
* **SublimeText package** - an add-on with PowerShell language support for Sublime Text.
* Use the `<verb>-<noun>.ps1` scheme for filenames (e.g. *new-symlink.ps1*). Official approved verbs can be found here: [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/developer/cmdlet/approved-verbs-for-windows-powershell-commands)
* Use **UTF-8 BOM** encoding to support Unicode characters in the script.
* Add a **comment-based help** at the beginning with: `.SYNOPSIS`, `.DESCRIPTION`, `.PARAMETER`, `.EXAMPLE`, `.LINK`, and `.NOTES`.
* Check the **requirements** for the script, e.g. `#Requires -RunAsAdministrator`, or `#Requires -Version 3`
* Prefer **command-line options**, else ask the user for help
* Recommended is **Set-StrictMode -Version Latest** to enable additional error checking.
* For readibility use **lowerCamelCase** to name variables, functions, etc.
* Set execute file permissions for Linux: **chmod a+rx <filename>**
* On success exit with error code 0 (**exit 0**), otherwise print the error with keyword **ERROR:** (to support log parsers) and exit the error code (mostly 1)
