MD5summer - Win MD5 file hash utility

Nice and simple.

Great little tool. Took a little bit of time to figure out, but I think for generating a lot of MD5 hashes this will be a really useful tool. Here's my first time impressions: I was just trying to generate the MD5 hash of one file and then stop using the program, which its not really geared to do. The first thing it asks you to do is set the 'root' which really doesn't make much sense initially - there's no indication why you need to set the root. My mind frame was just for one file which was in my downloads folder and I don't want to generate MD5 sums for all files in the folder - just the one file. Its mildly worrying - because it sounds like you get one chance to set a root folder and then you can never change it again. I think it would be better to remove the 'root' and just have 'please select folder'. Next thing is that the two buttons 'Create sums' and 'Verify sums' are missing the Windows standard elipsis '...' so it looks like the clicking on the buttons will actually do something which I don't know what it is. As it happens both buttons just open select windows. I clicked 'Verify sums' first, I guess because in my mind I was trying to 'verify' the file I had downloaded. What you need to do is 'Create sums' which then only gives you the files within the 'root' folder to work with. It seems to me the main focus of this tool is on the md5 files rather than the files themselves. The two buttons at the bottom might make more sense if they were 'Hash files ...' and 'Verify files ...'. More work would be to do away with the 'Verify sums' buttons and start with the 'Create sums window'. Then at the top of that window have a [...] button that would allow you to select the 'root' folder (I'd still do away with the 'root' term. Then include a 'Verify' button that would be disabled until a .md5 file was selected.

previous review says LOL Works? .. That should give you a clue this is not for the novice. Standalone is good, hell its GREAT BUT... not to the point it sacrafices the ability to use the program across the board. The program in its current form will Sum files, directories of files, etc...and will compare to a "hash" file, but the interface lacks windows commonality, and the three button approach doesn't work well. A better way to do this, would be to have the standard two sided window, folders on the left, files *and* folders on the right, and then the options to Compute Sums, Compare Sums, Exit. The words on the buttons can make or break the tool too. Simple one line/paragraph stating to Select file(s) or folder(s) to act upon and then press the button below.. would have made this program much more idiot friendly, I guess I'm just the better idiot.