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Hash Tab Shell Extension

Martin Brinkmann — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:28:47 +0000

Many users shy away as soon as they hear the words hash or shell extension because of the connotation that the conversation will turn into a highly technical – and geeky – one. The concept itself however is pretty simple that even a inexperienced computer user should understand it.

A hash is just a string that has been computed with the use of an algorithm. That hash is always the same as long as the file that has been checked is not modified. This leads directly to many uses of hash values. They can be used to check that a file is still the same on one computer, that a file that has been uploaded to a remote computer is the same as the file on the source computer or that a download from an Internet website is not corrupt.

Hash Tab is a Windows shell extension that adds a tab in the File Properties window that is displaying has values of various algorithms like MD5, CRC32 or SHA-512.

One interesting feature of Hash Tab is the ability to compare hashes in the File Properties dialog. It is possible to select a second file on the hard drive and compare it with the first one or to paste a hash into one of the forms and compare the files that way. The second option is obviously thought for comparing files that are not located on the same computer. Helpful after downloading files on the Internet or transferring files to a remote computer.

Hash Tab is only one review that was posted by Demetris at his blog. He lists Fifteen useful shell extensions for Windows with lots of screenshots and information on his website.

Verify the integrity and authenticity of files

Martin Brinkmann — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:00:29 +0000

Many download websites and developers display a so called MD5 hash code of the application that you want to download on their website which can be used to verify the integrity and authenticity of it. This can be done by comparing the MD5 hash code of the downloaded file with the one on the homepage where you did download it from.

The hash has to be the same, if it is not either the download went wrong or someone tampered with the file in some way. This could be that a virus or trojan was added to it for instance.

HashTab is a Windows Shell extension that adds a File Hashes tab to the properties window when right-clicking a file. It does display the hashes of several algorithms including MD5 or CRC32 and even has a button to easily compare hashes. That’s better than manually trying to compare the 32 digit+ hashes.

Check MD5 Hashes

Clazirus — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 19:29:52 +0000

MD5 (Message-Digest algorithm 5) can be used as a way of checking that a computer file has not been maliciously or accidentally altered. To put it simple, it works like a fingerprint. So, nowadays most of websites includes this information to their software, which looks like this:

Using MD5 checker, we can ensure the integrity of the files. All you need is to copy those published MD5 hashes to clipboard and launch this application. Paste it, and then simply click the browse button to locate the file. The md5 hashes will be compared to the one on the clipboard. The result then will be shown if the file was altered or not.

You could also create hashes for your file.