Malware may modify or infect a legitimate system file. When that occurs, a comparison to the legitimate original MD5 or SHA1 hash can be a useful diagnostic. FileAlyzer from Spybot Safer Networking is a free easy-to-use tool that quickly captures the md5, SHA1, and other useful file information. Here's how to get and use FileAlyzer.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 5 mins
Here's How:
- Open your Web browser and navigate to http://www.safer-networking.org/en/filealyzer/index.html (or just click the link provided).
- Click the download icon (it looks like a blue box with a white arrow surrounding it).
- Locate the downloaded file, typically named filealyze.exe, and double click the file to run it. Follow the onscreen prompts to install the program.
- After installing FileAlyzer, open Windows Explorer or your favorite file manager to locate the copy of the file you wish to analyze.
- Right-click the target file and select "Analyze file with FileAlyzer" from the right-click context menu that appears.
- FileAlyzer will open and display pertinent file information for the targeted file.