HashMyFiles is a free portable program for the Windows operating system that you may use to compute hashes of files you load into the software.
File Hashes can be useful to compare files, for example after downloading a file from a download portal that lists the hash of the downloads.
Backup scenarios are another example where hashes are useful; for instance to make sure that backups are not corrupt or modified, or for checking files to make sure they have not been tampered with.
Hash My Files
Hash My Files is a software developed by Nirsoft that computes hashes for files. The program supports several hash algorithms including the — now insecure — MD5 and SHA1, but also SHA256, SHA384, SHA512 and CRC32.
To use it, you either drag and drop files into the interface, or use the load buttons instead to open a file browser and pick files you want hashes computed for that way.
You may also add a context menu option to Explorer to send files directly from Explorer to the program. This needs to be enabled under Options > Enable Explorer Context Menu.
The computation happens immediately, but it may take a second or more depending on the file size. Hashes of smaller files are listed instantly in the application’s interface, while hashes of larger files take a brief moment before they are computed.
Another option that you have is to load folders into the program. Hashes are computed for all files of that folder then. This can be very useful for checking backups, projects, or any other large collection of files.
The final option that you have when it comes to loading files into HashMyFiles is to load processes that run on the system into it using the File menu.
HashMyFiles supports the Virustotal malware scanning service. You can right-click on any file to have it opened on the Virustotal website, and even integrate Virustotal in the Explorer context menu as well.
Other options include disabling certain algorithms that you don’t require, and copying hash values using shortcuts to the clipboard.
The program ships with the usual Nirsoft assortment of tools. You can export the data to HTML, TXT, XML and CSV files for instance, or run the program from the command line. Command line options include computing hashes for individual files or folders, exporting the data, and defining the output in detail.
Tip: you can use file comparison software, to compare the hashes of a directory or files if you use the export option regularly.
Closing Words
Nirsoft’s HashMyFiles is a handy portable program for Windows to compute hashes for single files or entire folder structures in a short amount of time. The program supports a variety of hashes, and extra features such as exporting the data or running scans on Virustotal.