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Remove files from external storage devices attached to your clients

This is one that is sure to upset a few users.  This project came from one of my PowerShell classes. The client had a strict policy that only company issued USB storage devices may be used on company computers. Group Policy can help keep that requirement enforced.  They also had a policy that described the files types that can be stored on these USB drivers. The problem is that users were storing files that were not of the approved type.  So, what can PowerShell do in this situation?

The code below allows the administrator to provide a list of computer names and a list of  file name patterns to look for.  They were particularly concerned about .exe files.  So the pattern for this would be “*.exe”.  Just be fore warned that code like this can be particularly upsetting to users.  Make sure that a well known acceptable usage policy is in place in your organization before unleashing this code on your people.

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Function Remove-Contraband

{

[cmdletbinding()]

Param(

    [String[]]$ComputerName = "LocalHost",

    [String[]]$Pattern

)

    ForEach ($Client in $ComputerName)

    {

        Write-Host "Scanning: $Client" `

         -ForegroundColor Cyan `

         -BackgroundColor DarkCyan

        ForEach ($Item in $Pattern)

        {

 

            Try

            {

                $Files=(Get-WmiObject win32_logicalDisk `

                 -ComputerName $Client -ErrorAction Stop |

                 Where-Object {$_.DriveType -eq 2} |

                 Select-Object *,@{Name="DrivePath";Expression={$_.Caption}} |

                 ForEach-Object {Get-ChildItem -File -Path $_.DrivePath `

                  -Recurse -filter "$($Item)"})

          

                If ($Files -ne $Null)   

                    {

                        Write-Host "Deleteing: $($Files.Name)" -ForegroundColor Red

                        $Files | Remove-Item -Force

                    }

                    Else

                    {

              

                    }

            } # End Try Block

            Catch{}

        } # End: ForEach ($Item in $Pattern)

        Write-Host "Completed: $Client" `

         -ForegroundColor Gray `

         -BackgroundColor DarkGray

    }

<#

.SYNOPSIS

Removes files matching a pattern from removable storage devices

 

.DESCRIPTION

Discovers removable storage devices attached to remote clients

and then scans the files of that device for patterns in the file

name.  If the name matches, then the file is deleted.

 

.PARAMETER Pattern

A string pattern to search for.  Use of wildcard characters are accepted.

 

.PARAMETER ComputerName

A list of computer names to search for removable storage devices on.

 

.EXAMPLE

Remove-Contraband -ComputerName "Indy-CL1", "Indy-CL2" -Pattern "*ps123","PS456"

 

Scans both clients Indy-CL1 and Indy-CL2 for removable storage devices.

The cmdlet then scans those storage devices for any file ending in

"ps123" and any file named "PS456"  If found, these files are deleted.

 

#>

}

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