$ Get-ExecutionPolicy


The following execution policy definitions are from Microsoft’s website:

• Restricted – No scripts can be run. Windows PowerShell can be used only in interactive mode.
• AllSigned – Only scripts signed by a trusted publisher can be run.
• RemoteSigned – Downloaded scripts must be signed by a trusted publisher before they can be run.
• Unrestricted – No restrictions; all Windows PowerShell scripts can be run.

To change the execution policy, use Set-ExecutionPolicy. The following will enable you to execute all PowerShell scripts.

$ Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted

The following script recursively deletes files and directories modified more than 16 days ago.

# prune.ps1
$sticky = (Get-date).AddDays(-16)
$backupDir = "B:\backup"
echo "Recursively deleting files and directories written before $sticky"
Get-ChildItem $backupDir -Recurse | Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -lt $sticky } | Remove-Item -Recurse


Note that you can change Remove-Item -Recurse to Remove-Item -Whatif to “pretend” to delete files, and display potential deletes on STDOUT. You can also specify Remove-Item -Confirm.

I created a scheduled task that runs a .bat file containing the following:
powershell.exe c:\scripts\prune.ps1 >> c:\scripts\logs\prune.log

To watch and or view the output of the script, specify the -noexit switch on the command line.
powershell.exe -noexit c:\scripts\prune.ps1