Guys - thanks for the help to date
Is there any answer to my second question

"Furthermore, the curious thing is that the following produces no screen output
$x = "Role=" + $oComputer.role + ""
? $x
The following at least outputs the text "Role=" to the screen
$x = "Role=" ;+ $oComputer.role + ""
? $x

What is it about some of these properties that seems to zap the contents of variables "

Regards

Mark
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Mark Pietersz