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Jos Fissering

Jos is a digital maestro based in the Netherlands, famed for transforming complex tasks into automated marvels with PowerShell. When he’s not scripting his way to brilliance, you might find him cycling past charming windmills or savoring a classic stroopwafel. Jos is proof that you can be a modern-day wizard…

  • A way to Secure Credentials in Your PowerShell Scripts

    Storing credentials in plain text within scripts is a common but risky practice. While it may seem convenient for automation, it exposes sensitive data to anyone with access to the code. In this article, we explore a safer approach using PowerShell’s ConvertTo-SecureString and ConvertFrom-SecureString to encrypt passwords tied to a specific user and machine. This method significantly reduces the risk of credential leaks while keeping automation seamless.

  • When Automation Goes Wrong: A Painful Lesson in PowerShell

    Have you ever written a script that worked perfectly in testing, only to cause chaos in production? I have, and it was one of the most stressful days of my career. This experience changed how I write scripts. More checks, fewer assumptions, and no blind trust in defaults.

  • Enums in PowerShell: Strongly Typed Values for Robust Scripts

    Enums in PowerShell provide a clean way to work with strongly typed values, improving readability, maintainability, and reducing errors. By grouping related constants under a single type, you avoid magic numbers and hardcoded strings, gain autocompletion, and enable built-in validation in functions. Whether you use native syntax, Add-Type with C#, or classes with static properties, enums make your scripts more robust and easier to manage.

  • PowerShell: Hashtable vs PSCustomObject Explained

    Hashtables and PSCustomObjects may look similar in PowerShell, but they serve very different purposes. This post explores their syntax, performance, and practical use cases, helping you choose the right structure for dynamic data handling or clean output formatting.

  • When Should You Use -match vs. -like in PowerShell?

    Choosing between -match and -like depends on the complexity of your pattern matching. Use -like for simple wildcard checks, such as finding strings that contain certain characters (* and ? are your friends). When you need more power, like anchoring patterns, grouping, or advanced conditions, reach for -match, which leverages regular expressions. In short: -like is quick and simple, -match is precise and flexible.

  • Why Your Intune File Commits Fail in PowerShell 7.4+

    PowerShell 7.4 introduces a subtle but impactful change: the default encoding for HTTP requests is now UTF-8 instead of ASCII. This shift can cause unexpected issues when working with the Microsoft Graph API, particularly during .intunewin file commits in Intune. In this post, I explain the root cause, share workarounds, and offer practical solutions to keep your automation workflows running smoothly.

  • Automating LEGO Instruction Downloads with PowerShell

    Tired of manually downloading LEGO building instructions? This PowerShell function automates the process by fetching the instruction page, filtering valid PDF links, and saving them neatly into a folder per set. Whether you’re organizing your collection or just love scripting, this tool adds efficiency and fun to your LEGO hobby.

  • PowerShell Tip: Testing Performance with Measure-Command

    Measure-Command is a simple yet powerful tool to gain insight into the performance of your PowerShell code. Whether you’re optimizing scripts or just curious — to measure is to know.

  • Exploring Recursive Functions in PowerShell: A Backend Adventure

    Discover how recursive functions work in PowerShell and why they’re perfect for navigating complex, nested data structures. Inspired by Boot.dev’s RPG-style learning, this post walks through a practical example using JSON and hashtables to build file paths recursively—ideal for backend developers looking to level up their scripting skills.

  • Rounding in PowerShell: Avoiding Pitfalls When Splitting Lists into Batches

    When splitting a list of users into batches, rounding errors can lead to unexpected results. In this post, I explore common mistakes with [math]::Round(), explain rounding strategies, and show how methods like Ceiling() and Floor() can help you get accurate batch counts in PowerShell.