The year is nearly over. 2024 is just around the corner! In this blog post, I will discuss the highlights of 2023 regarding my sponsor, blog posts, podcasts, GitHub, the Microsoft Tech Community, and events!

My sponsor

In April 2023, I mentioned on LinkedIn that I wanted to stop using Google Ads and was looking for a sponsor. I was not too fond of the space it took from my blog posts, and it was very flashy… The guys from ScriptRunner contacted me on that same day! After chatting with Heiko Brenn, I spoke with him on Experts Live, we arranged a sponsorship, and I’m pleased with that. ScriptRunner is an excellent RBAC-based product for safely delegating PowerShell IT admin tasks, making it a good match for sponsoring my website!

Top 10 most-read blog posts in 2023

This year, my site received 258,215 views with 172,595 visitors! I created 55 blog posts, typed 49,9K words, had 218 comments, 17 likes, and 39 people subscribed to my site!

The top 10 most-read blog posts were:

#10 Report on Active Directory OU permissions using PowerShell 4,994 views
I created an excellent script for one of my customers when working on an Active Directory security project. I needed to gather a lot of information, and that’s where PowerShell always delivers…

#09 Searching Windows Event Logs using PowerShell 5,529 views
Querying the Windows Event logs always gives you a good insight into what’s going on, and the script can output the data to an Out-GridView pane or csv file.

#08 Updating your PowerShell modules to the latest version plus cleaning up older versions 5,601 views
I use this a lot, and I updated this script quite a few times to update your modules efficiently to the latest version and clean up older versions. Also, ScrambledBrain helped me on it!

#07 Export registry information using PowerShell 6,381 views
I created this script to export and document registry information easily.

#06 Update your software using WinGet and PowerShell 7,566 views
WinGet is such an excellent tool. I created a script to update your software quickly, and Robin Stolpe helped me with this one!

#05 Upload Windows Autopilot hardware hash easily 11,180 views
I used this to simplify uploading the hardware hash and use this often for my test VMs.

#04 Using Run-in-Sandbox for testing scripts and Intune packages 11,729 views
It’s a super tool from Damien Van Robaeys, which I use extensively for testing packages and software. It’s one of the first things I install on a new system!

#03 Recreate Desktop and Start Menu shortcuts #ASRmageddon 12,233 views
Friday, the 13th of January this year, icons started disappearing from many Start Menus and Desktop folders because of an issue in Windows Defender/ASR. I immediately created a script for our support team and shared it on my website. I got so many thank you’s for that, and the script that Microsoft created did look a lot like mine 😉

#02 Create a TCP/UDP port listener using PowerShell 12,427 views
Script for testing ports, which I use for testing Firewall rules without the services running on the target server. It saves a lot of extra tickets for the network team 😉

#01 Adding printer drivers and printers using Microsoft Intune and PowerShell 20,689 views
The pain of every admin, Printers! I created this script to deploy printers and their drivers quickly using Intune. I received so many responses to it, and I usually receive around 50 – 100 views daily for that blog post.

GitHub

My GitHub page keeps growing: 320 stars, 22 watching, and 73 forks! Thank you all!

Podcasts in 2023

I have never been on a podcast, but I have been on four this year 🙂 It’s more fun than I thought. I was a bit nervous, especially about the PowerShell Podcast from PDQ (Which is my favorite!), but once you start talking about IT and PowerShell, Time flies 🙂

You can view them here!

Microsoft Tech Community

I’ve been contributing to the Microsoft Tech Community since November 05, 2021, and it’s been fun! I learned so much there, and I highly recommend it for asking questions about helping others. You can find me in the PowerShell and Intune forums.

Events in 2023

It’s always nice to go to IT events. Been to these this year:

• Managing 100+ 365 environments with Jeff Wouters, a great automation/PowerShell-minded guy who also lived in my hometown, Steenwijk 😛
• Experts Live (I was on the program panel this year, rated sessions, which helped set up the session table. Thanks, Kenneth van Surksum!)
• Two Workplace Dudes sessions were terrific, and the Company I work for (NEXXT) will host the next one on February 8th 2024!
• Azure Platform Engineering is a community event that our company hosted in Amersfoort. There were a lot of people, pleasant sessions, and excellent food. What more could you want 😉
• Cloud Expo 2023, our Company was there with our stand, and it was great being there for two days with my colleagues and talking to new customers or our suppliers/vendors!
• Microsoft Ignite Netherlands didn’t go to the big one in the US, but this was also a lovely day with sessions and many community people and former colleagues!

Thank you!

I want to thank all the visitors to the website. Reading and commenting or contributing to my blog posts makes it all worthwhile. I met many people in real life or online because of the thing we all share: PowerShell! Happy 2024! See you next year!