Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Windows PowerShell

PowerShell is a command console and scripting language. If you’re a programmer, PowerShell lets you write your own simple programs, called cmdlets (“commandlets”) that can perform all kinds of automated drudgery for you: Copy or move folders, manipulate files, open or quit programs, and so on.

You harness all this power by typing up scripts in PowerShell’s command-line interface (which means no mouse, no menus, no windows—all text, like in the DOS days). In short, PowerShell is not for the layperson. If you’re an ambitious layperson, however, a Google search for PowerShell tutorial unveils all kinds of Web sites that teach you, step-by-step, how to harness this very advanced tool.