I like to work with scripting languages be it PowerShell or Batch or VB… One of the reasons for liking is it gives me “false sense” of Linux environment 
… But the main reason I like scripting because I am lazy by nature and scripts are great way to automate lot of things which are routine of my work.
But even will all greatness there are few quirks like no GUI, cryptic syntax exists that make one bit shy to use these scripting languages. I think it is one of the reasons why usually scripting is considered forbidden knowledge for anyone other than likes of system administrators 
Recently I ran into a sleek scripting tool called Auto Hot Key (aka AHK). It is basically allows you to run a script and macro when certain conditions met. It is just like any other scripting tools we use. But I like the idea that some basic things like capturing specific key press event is very easy in this tool compared to its counterparts. And I love the idea that my taskbar and desktop can be so minimalistic with 1-2 icons and I can just trigger any programs (or group of programs) with single shortcut key. It also comes with its own macro recorder which can be used to create macro to automate tasks. It can also convert your AHK script in EXE for distribution and easy to use !!
A simple code that maps windows keys + v with visual studio will look like this,
#v::Run "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe"
This tool doesn’t have as deep system wide penetration like PowerShell or not as independent as Batch scripts … But it kind of stays in middle .. it is lighter than PS … and bit more feature rich than Batch … I think it is more for ppl who like to run scripts on their workstations to perform different tasks automatically.
I think that’s it for now …
It’s Just A Thought … 
