Over a period of time several users have asked us a question, the question relates to MD5 strings that are associated with file downloads, many users are usually clueless about this, so we finally decided to write a post that explains to users, what those MD5 strings mean, and what significance they have in order to make sure that they have downloaded a correct file and not something that has been tampered with.
Before we explain the significance of the those hash strings, let us take a look at what MD5 actually means.
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. – Wikipedia MD5 entry
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.
There are several softwares 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.