[biggles2008]

Well i download a vast majority of things from the internet and generally i see e.g.

Quote

Download Application
32 Bit TortoiseSVN-1.4.8.12137-win32-svn-1.4.6.msi Installer

TortoiseSVN-1.4.8.12137-win32-svn-1.4.6.md5 MD5 checksum

What is MD5 and MD5 checksum?

[no2pencil]

MD5 is an algorithm to convert data into a 32 bit hash. It's a one way conversion, so the same data in will present the same data out, however from the data out, you cannot decipher what data went in. Therefor MD5 is used for 2 perposes, 1, to create data "stamps" to ensure that what you have download is the correct, & unaltered data, & 2 is to create a basic level of encryption for data transmission.

So in your situation it is being used for the 1st reason I listed. They are providing you with the data signature, so before you uncompress (& use) the downloaded file, you can check it with MD5 to assure that you are not downloading an altered release.

[biggles2008]

Ah ty

[mikeblas]

An MD5 hash is 128 bits (16 bytes) in length.