Sven pointed me in the direction of something he just recently discovered and something I too had never heard of, a rather useful utility that has in fact been lurking around on Windows Vista and XP for years already: Microsoft’s IExpress tool.
This rarely used tool is in fact quite a handy little guy, capable of transforming executable “raw” scripts like .bat and .vbs files into redistributable executable files that eliminates the need to ever have to explain say to a non-technical user, just how to execute script files via the Command Prompt in the first place.
To launch IExpress, simply click on Start -> Run and enter IExpress before hitting Enter. This will then bring up the IExpress wizard-driven utility and from there you can now proceed to create the executable wrapper for your perhaps nifty little script file.
Now in order to begin, you’ll need at least two files available to you. The first of these required files is your actual script file that is to be bundled into the package and the second is the batch file that you would normally use to execute your script, usually a .bat file.
From this point on you now simply follow the dialog process, selecting from the rather wide variety of options this simple application allows you, and at the end of it all, IExpress will spit out a nice and healthy .exe file, far more convenient than a raw script file to move around, particularly if your intended audience happens to be your mother for example’s sake! ;)
Related link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/ie/ieak/techinfo/deploy/60/en/iexpress.mspx?mfr=true