Common Commands

Manage Processes

Start-Process; Stop-Process

Manage Services

Start-Service; Stop-Service

Manage/Navigate File System

New-Item; Move-Item; Remove-Item; Copy-Item

Get-ChildItem

Set-Location

Write-Host; Read-Host

Use the "Help"

Powershell has a great built-in help system which is incredibly useful for gaining info on commands or Powershell properties. Look at the below command:

"Get-Help Start-Process"

This will bring up some basic information about the command such as Syntax, Description, and Related Links, BUT it can do so much more. You can control how much detail the "Help" system gives you by using certain switches such as "-Detailed", "-Full", and "-Examples". I recommend the "-ShowWindow" switch which will give you all the available details in a separate window, which is great for keeping the console window clean:

"Get-Help Start-Process -ShowWindow"

"Help" can also be used to search for commands or modules of interest and it accepts wildcards.

"Get-Help *process*" will bring all commands that have "process" anywhere in the name. Additionally you can use only one asterisk, "*process", if you want to search for commands that have "process" in either the front or the back.