If you have never worked as a unix admin and have only used NT GUI-based tools, you have no idea why command-line mode is so productive for administrators. OK - thats condescending but having worked as a unix admin and nt admin, I see nt admins working and working and working and working doing repetitive tasks in the NT GUI that should be automated in a script. Scripts are ugly. They can be complex. It is the dark place after all. You can administrate a small environment with the GUI or if you don't want bathroom breaks, you can administrate a medium sized environment with the GUI. Give it a try, you may like it. If on the other hand, you are getting into NT administration from a unix background, NT does have more command-line capabilities than you think. See Gerald Carter's comparison of linux and nt commandline commands. I have used the MKS Toolkit for years on intel platforms starting from DOS 3.0 to NT2000. Highly recommend it. I strongly recommend Perl which is a particularly rich scripting language.