Powershell IE autostart and maximization crashes

Question

Hello,
For starters i would like to say that i am really new in powershell and scripting itself, but i hope i have legit problem that someone could help me to solve.
I`m trying to create powershell script that starts Internet Explorer and maximizes than periodically checks if IE is till running starts it if it`s not, and if it is started then maximizes it if if its not. (everything that is seen in this script i have
scrapped from your forum and kind of tried to put it together. 
Here is the script: 
for (;;) {
$processToCheck = "iexplore"
$process = Get-Process $processToCheck -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
If (!($process)) {
$ie = New-Object -ComObject InternetExplorer.Application
$ie.Visible = $true
$ie.Navigate("www.google.com")
$sw = @'
[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern int ShowWindow(int hwnd, int nCmdShow);
$type = Add-Type -Name ShowWindow2 -MemberDefinition $sw -Language CSharpVersion3 -Namespace Utils -PassThru
$type::ShowWindow($ie.hwnd, 3) # 3 = maximize
start-sleep -s 5
else
{$sig = '[DllImport("user32.dll")]
public static extern bool ShowWindowAsync(IntPtr hWnd, int nCmdShow);'
Add-Type -MemberDefinition $sig -name NativeMethods -namespace Win32
$hwnd = @(Get-Process iexplore)[0].MainWindowHandle
# Maximize window
[Win32.NativeMethods]::ShowWindowAsync($hwnd, 3)
start-sleep -s 5
Now about my issue. This script seems to do the trick but not every time. Sometimes if i just start it it starts IE normally and in 5 secs maximizes it and after that i can minimize or just change screen size and it will properly maximize. Issues start if
i close IE and it has to reopen. From time to time IE hangs. Everything lese in background works and i can stop my PS script from executing but IE stays Hanged till i kill it through Task manager Alt+F4 or any other way.
I tried to run the first part with plane start-process iexplore -wait and it does not hang. 
As much as i understand (i might be terribly wrong though) IE is not fully started before rest of the code is executed and that leads to IE hang but -wait command does not help since it waits till IE is closed.
I hope i have made my point clear.
UPD1: Sometimes it hangs from the beggining
Best regards
BoRdo

Answer 1

I did something like this a while back using a WMI event sink in a VBScript script...
' If IE isn't running, start it maximized.
' Restart IE automatically if it closes.
' Global constants
Const ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND = 2
Const SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3
' Global objects
Dim FSO, WshShell, SWbemServices, EventSink
Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set SWbemServices = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationlevel=impersonate}" _
& "!root/CIMV2")
Set EventSink = WScript.CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemSink", "EVENTSINK_")
' Global variables
Dim IEProcessID
' Returns full path and filename of Internet Explorer (32-bit on x64).
Function GetIEPath()
Dim WshEnvironment, ProgramFiles, IEPath
Set WshEnvironment = WshShell.Environment("PROCESS")
If WshEnvironment.Item("ProgramFiles(x86)") = "" Then
ProgramFiles = WshEnvironment.Item("ProgramFiles")
Else
ProgramFiles = WshEnvironment.Item("ProgramFiles(x86)")
End If
IEPath = FSO.BuildPath(ProgramFiles, "\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe")
If Not FSO.FileExists(IEPath) Then
WScript.Echo "Internet Explorer not found"
WScript.Quit ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND
End If
GetIEPath = IEPath
End Function
' Returns process ID of iexplore.exe, or -1 if not found.
Function GetIEProcessID()
Dim Result, Collection, Item
Result = -1
Set Collection = SWbemServices.ExecQuery("select ProcessId from " _
& "Win32_Process where Name='iexplore.exe'")
For Each Item In Collection
Result = Item.ProcessId
Exit For
Next
GetIEProcessID = Result
End Function
' Starts IE maximized and returns its process ID.
Function StartIE()
Dim ProcStartup, Process, Result, ProcessID
Set ProcStartup = SWbemServices.Get("Win32_ProcessStartup").SpawnInstance_()
ProcStartup.ShowWindow = SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED
Set Process = SWbemServices.Get("Win32_Process")
Result = Process.Create(GetIEPath, Null, ProcStartup, ProcessID)
If Result <> 0 Then
WScript.Echo "Unable to start Internet Explorer; WMI error " & CStr(Result)
WScript.Quit Result
End If
StartIE = ProcessID
End Function
' WMI asyncronous event sink: If IE closes, start it again.
Sub EVENTSINK_OnObjectReady(ByVal ObjectEvent, ByVal Context)
If ObjectEvent.TargetInstance.ProcessId = IEProcessID Then
IEProcessID = StartIE()
End If
End Sub
' Execute query to receive events asyncronously.
SWbemServices.ExecNotificationQueryAsync _
EventSink, "select * from __InstanceDeletionEvent within 1 where " _
& "TargetInstance isa 'Win32_Process'"
' If IE isn't running, start it and get its process ID.
IEProcessID = GetIEProcessID()
If IEProcessID = -1 Then
IEProcessID = StartIE()
End If
' Loop forever. The event sink will restart IE if it closes.
Do While True
WScript.Sleep 100
Loop
-- Bill Stewart [Bill_Stewart]