Ever wondered what are MD5 which are seen when you download a file from any site?
MD5 is usually used to verify the integrity of files that you download from the internet, the MD5 hash string associated with the files are basically hashes of the files that will allow you to check it’s integrity, once you have downloaded it from the internet.
Wikipedia MD5 entry: MD5 (Message-Digest algorithm 5) is a widely used cryptographic hash function with a 128-bit hash value. As an Internet standard (RFC 1321), MD5 has been employed in a wide variety of security applications, and is also commonly used to check the integrity of files.
There are several software available that will allow you to check the integrity of the file, one such software is a freeware utility called MD5 Checker, using this tool you can easily verify the integrity of the downloaded files.
To check the integrity of the downloaded file, open MD5 Checker and choose the location of the downloaded file, once you open the file MD5 Checker will automatically generate the MD5 hash string for the file, you can then compare the generated MD5 hash string for the downloaded file with the hash string shown on the download page.
To make the comparison more easier, just copy the MD5 hash string on the download website, and click on MD5 Check button in the application.
If you do not see a MD5 Match response, do not install or use the file, it may have been tampered with.
Also the next time you download files which have MD5 hash strings associated with it, use this simple portable software to ensure that you have downloaded the right file and not a tampered one.
Download: MD5 Checker 153Kb