Scripting tool for Windows

So there are a ton of ways to script stuff in Windows...batch files, VBScript, PowerShell, etc...   My favorite is AutoIT.  AutoIT is a freeware (unfortunately not Open Source) tool that is very similar to the old basic language and can be used to do a wide variety of things in Windows.  All your typical stuff like registry access and file access is available and because it can tap into Windows components you can do things like ftp.  I was first attracted to the tool because it lets you script "button pushing".  I was working on automating a standard image and we had a few applications that had poorly designed installation routines which you couldn't automate from the command line.  AutoIt will let  you wait for windows to pop up and then you can instruct it to press buttons in the window so you can have a "hands-off" installation.  Take a look...it's well worth the effort.