Using md5sum program to compute and check MD5 message digest under Windows and Linux PC.

   Step by step how to compute and using md5 tools to check MD5 message digest under Windows and Linux operating system PC.

Using MD5 Checksums tools.

   The MD5 checksums provide a way for you to confirm the integrity of files you download from the internet server. The MD5 algorithm takes a file as input and produces as output a message digest of the input which is a highly unique fingerprint. Usually the download server provides MD5 file with their software so you can verify that your downloaded files are unaltered from the original. To confirm file integrity, use an MD5 utility on your computer to calculate MD5 checksums for files downloaded from the web site. If your calculated MD5 checksums matches the MD5 checksum provide on the downloaded server, you are assured that the file downloaded was intact.

MD5 utilities are available for Windows and Linux PC. Most Linux installations provide an md5sum command for calculating MD5.

An MD5 tools for Windows operating system can be downloaded at the URL below:

http://www.pc-tools.net/win32/md5sums/

http://www.toast442.org/md5/ (Graphical MD5Sum )

http://etree.org/cgi-bin/counter.cgi/software/md5sum.exe

http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/md5.zip

http://downloads.activestate.com/contrib/md5sum/Windows/md5sum.exe

This is how you verify MD5 check sums under Linux operating system:

1. In the shell, type the command "md5sum projectname.iso"

2. Compare the calculated checksum with the one listed from the relevant Web page that you get your software from.

3. If the checksums do not match may be failure when downloading the file

For more infomation on Textutils:

http://www.gnu.org/software/textutils/textutils.html

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