# What is important to learn to write programs in network, windows, cyber security? **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [September 18, 2026, 6:22am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557 "2026-09-18T06:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 6:22am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/1 "2026-09-18T06:22:58Z")
Hi I am interested in learning how to write programs in networking, windows and cyber security. I am not trying to look for a career, just interest in going deeper in networking, internet, windows. Learning how to write scripts, programs is the most straight forward way to get my feet wet. I read PowerShell one of the important one. Python, C++ are important for client server. I spent a few weeks learning html and wrote some playing stuff. I just want to have opinions from people here. More importantly, is PowerShell really important for what I am trying to do before I spend a lot of time on this? I spent a little time reading about cyber security, it’s not what I am looking for, all they do is explaining the kinds of threat, then telling me to get good anti virus software. I know all that. I want to get into programming to really get the feel. Thanks Alan ---
**Author:** ![vern\_anderson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vern_anderson/32/5140_2.png) [@vern\_anderson](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vern_anderson)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 12:19pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/2 "2026-09-18T12:19:23Z")
Aside from Windows Firewall I don’t think the most popular brands of Network Devices, such as routers, switches, load balancers, and physical firewalls use PowerShell commands. So there may be some Cisco forums or Big IP F5 or pick your brand name of your network device and see if they have a forum where you could ask. Cisco does have certain PowerShell modules but most Network Administrators probably do not use PowerShell as there go to tool for network programming. ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 12:34pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/3 "2026-09-18T12:34:11Z")
Thanks for the reply Is PowerShell important to study Windows 11? Or just CMD is good enough? ---
**Author:** ![vern\_anderson](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/vern_anderson/32/5140_2.png) [@vern\_anderson](https://forums.powershell.org/u/vern_anderson)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 2:08pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/4 "2026-09-18T14:08:10Z")
PowerShell the console can do both CMD and PowerShell at the same time, so I would say PowerShell for that reason. However, if you don’t force yourself to use it each day, it will be very dificult to learn. The man who started this very web site “Don Jones” has a youtube channel. You could watch his videos to learn. [https://www.youtube.com/@DonJonesConTech](https://www.youtube.com/@DonJonesConTech) ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/5 "2026-09-18T19:54:48Z")
Thanks for the reply. I guess the ultimate question is What is PowerShell used for? How often people need to write PowerShell scripts? I know Cyber security and IT is NOT my goal to study. I spent like 3wks studying the Networking and Cyber Security books before I realize that is really a Field Service technician type of work. Their role is just check and prevent people from doing stupid things like clicking a link in the email blindly, reply to suspicious email or text etc. I stop joining those forums. But it’s good to learn different type of virus, network layers of TCP/IP, what the layer does and all. But it’s time to move on as I am not interested in doing technician stuff. I want to get deeper into writing simple scripts so I am more familiar with the inner working of Windows, networking and all. It’s like I want to know the steps of how virus infect the system when you click on them, step by step. That’s a lot deeper than preventing and fixing using anti virus software like Norton etc. ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 12:39am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/6 "2026-09-21T00:39:54Z")
Anyone? Just want to hear opinions. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![grey0ut](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/grey0ut/32/5310_2.png) [@grey0ut](https://forums.powershell.org/u/grey0ut)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 2:43pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/7 "2026-09-21T14:43:57Z")
PowerShell is used for whatever you want to use it for. It’s a scripting language. I find it’s much easier to come up with the need first, and then apply PowerShell to it. Example from recently: We had an issue recently at work where a website was using the strict-transport-security header with the ‘includeSubdomains’ option turned on. A lot of our internal tools use subdomains of this domain but don’t use HTTPS. When the browser receives that header it updates its HSTS database to basically say “if you encounter any subdomain of [XYZ.com](http://XYZ.com) force it to use HTTPS”. You can fix this manually [in most browsers](https://appuals.com/how-to-clear-or-disable-hsts-for-chrome-firefox-and-internet-explorer/) but our help desk started getting more and more people running in to the issue while we waited on web devs to remove the header. I did a little bit of searching and found that I could search a local JSON formatted file to see if a site was in the HSTS list, and then I could remove that site and rewrite the JSON file. I made `Get-EdgeHSTS.ps1` and `Remove-EdgeHSTS.ps1` and our help desk was able to start fixing people faster. Coupled with a query I wrote in our SIEM I was able to proactively determine people who had visited the affected site but hadn’t yet put in a ticket for a problem. I use PowerShell to perform WhoIs lookups on IP addresses, check if TCP ports are open on endpoints, convert from Base64 encoded text, check Event Viewer records for specific errors, and even get the GPS coordinates of remote computers. You can’t ( and shouldn’t) do _everything_ in PowerShell, but if you’ve got an idea that’s the best place to start. ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/8 "2026-09-22T00:29:20Z")
thanks for the reply GreyOut. Problem is I don’t understand most of the terms you use. Sorry I am a beginner just getting into PS like 3 wks ago. I am struggling to even remember the terms. If you can talk like to a regular ignorant person, that’s what I need. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![grey0ut](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forums.powershell.org/grey0ut/32/5310_2.png) [@grey0ut](https://forums.powershell.org/u/grey0ut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:33pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/9 "2026-09-22T16:33:12Z")
You asked for opinions and I provided you with some. Almost nothing I said was PowerShell terminology but rather things I’ve used PowerShell for. From reading all of your comments across the different threads on this forum I think you just need to work your way through a course or a book. I see “PowerShell in a Month of Lunches” recommended almost daily as a good book for learning PowerShell. Everyone learns a different way. You mention books a lot so it seems like that might be your way. I don’t learn from books as well, especially something like PowerShell. I learned by having a “need” in to solve in PowerShell and then figuring it out. All of the answers you need to pretty much everything are in the help docs, [Microsoft documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/), and the internet in general. Remember that PowerShell is both a scripting language (written out in files and executed as a singular script) and a Command Line Interface. All of the things you can do in a PowerShell script you can do in the CLI. **But** some things are much easier to write out in a script like loops and large arrays. Do yourself a favor and get Visual Studio Code (it’s free) and start writing PowerShell in there. Most LLMs are also pretty good at answering questions about PowerShell and helping writing and explain things. ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 7:25pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/10 "2026-09-22T19:25:35Z")
I just got a new book today, we’ll see. I never worked in the field of my degree, I studied electronics all on my own and I was the chief designer and manager of EE for 30yrs. I studied all on my own with books. This include advanced calculus, electromagnetics. My field was RF and microwave design. So learning from books is not a problem. I issue is I am not familiar with networking, just using Windows, not expert in it. So everything is new to me. Never even learn all the terms of Networking and all. That’s the reason you might be describing very common things and I still have no idea. I guess I have to just take my time. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![RichMath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@RichMath](https://forums.powershell.org/u/RichMath)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/11 "2026-09-22T19:47:14Z")
If you’re interested in networking and writing scripts, why not start with something relatively straightforward, like converting an IPv4 address into an integer, and converting an integer into an IPv4 address? Both the integer and “dotted quad” notations are usable as an address, so this isn’t just an abstract concept. The script should take one of two possible parameters (the address), but not both at the same time. The dotted-quad notation value should contain only valid data (numeric values in the range of 0-256) and the transformation of the integer address should result in a valid IPv4 address with no remainder. You’ll learn to write a script instead of using just command line, how to use parameters in a script (and maybe venture into exploring PowerShell Parameter Sets), and how to use some math functions not found in PowerShell but in external code libraries (e.g. “.Net”). ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/12 "2026-09-23T00:35:37Z")
Hi RichMath I’ll look into converting IPv4 address to integer a little later. I just got the “PowerShell in Depth” book you suggested. It’s a BIG BOOK!! Looks a lot more detail than my two books. My 2 books are only like 150 pages. This on is 700 pages. Looks to be a lot more detail subject by subject. Maybe all my complains are about the 2 books. How can you learn PS in a 150pages book??!! So I am going to read a little first. Thanks Alan ---
**Author:** ![RichMath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df788c/32.png) [@RichMath](https://forums.powershell.org/u/RichMath)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/13 "2026-09-23T21:09:57Z")
PowerShell in Depth covers only version of PowerShell up to version 4. It’s a good one to begin with. The 1st half of the book covers PowerShell and has exercises at the end of each chapter – do NOT skip doing the exercises! The second half of the book contains practical examples of using PowerShell for system administration – in other words, the application of what you learned in the first half. ---
**Author:** ![alan.revera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@alan.revera](https://forums.powershell.org/u/alan.revera)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2026, 9:50pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/14 "2026-09-23T21:50:32Z")
Thanks RichMath Yes, I definitely do the exercise, I almost come to ask whether there is a book that concentrate on exercise. That’s the only way to really understand it. I received the second book you suggested, I have not even open it. I am taking a day or two off after fighting the problems. Another thick one. These two books worth the money in weight, I paid less than $40 for both. The first book supposedly is used, it’s like a brand new one. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/uploads/powershell/original/1X/385e4f9fe133561ad30a814262fe0e0ae6bc3ef0.png) [@system](https://forums.powershell.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://forums.powershell.org/t/what-is-important-to-learn-to-write-programs-in-network-windows-cyber-security/26557/15 "2026-10-23T21:51:07Z")
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