

These hash functions scan the program’s contents and hash it into a short, readable “checksum” string. They obtain this hash by running their program through one or several cryptographic hash functions right at release. How does a checksum work?Ī checksum is a hash value that’s created and distributed by the software creator.
#Sha256 checksum windows verification
These same integrity verification functions will pick up on those changes same as it picks up on malware. There is also a chance that your software is legitimately corrupt. He would then release it out into the wild for unsuspecting individual to use and distribute.Įven if you downloaded your software from a “reputable” 3rd party site, there is a chance that the site owners didn’t verify the checksum and are unknowingly distributing a tainted version of the software. Verify the checksum so you don’t deploy malware ridden software!Ī malware distributor would have no problem injecting a free piece of software with his own hidden code.

Why should you verify a checksum in the first place? If you are a command line fan, Microsoft has their own unsupported command line checksum utility. Checksum verification works on zip files, executables, iso downloads, or any other type of file.

You should run this type of verification on all software downloads. You can either manually eyeball the strings to verify, or you can copy and paste a checksum string provided by the developer into the hash box and verify. As you can see above, the checksums match the checksum distributed by the software developer (version 2.0 of the utility).
