Just a thought and I hope no one takes offense, but seems to me that
this should be something that can be made easier or even automated for
the end user. I am a software developer who has also done tech
support. If I were not particularly computer savvy, most of this answer
would be useless to me, namely: 1) what is a string, 2) where to get
md5sum.exe, and 3) how to run it, considering that many average Windows
users do not know how to use command line programs.
For your consideration, I have encountered many customers of the company
I work for who equate MSOffice and Windows, calling one the other and
having no idea what an OS is, yet still perfectly capable of using an
office document suite. To use an old analogy, it's like being able to
drive a car and not having to know all the mechanics and theory under
the hood (American English here) and chasis to do it. Hence the allure
of the MS when they provide this security check automatically. The
Linspire (flavor of Linux) software library is also a wonderfully simple
model as well.
For what it's worth and hoping it sparks some creative ideas in folks
who are more capable than I,
Matthew L. Avizinis
Gleim Publications, Inc.
Anthony Chilco wrote:
Hi Isabelle,
On the page where you downloaded the software, you should find a link
to download its MD5sum. This is a string generated from the contents
of the file. Using md5sum.exe, which is also freely available for
download, you can generate the same string using the downloaded file
as input. If they match, what you downloaded has not been corrupted or
infected. If you trust the openoffice organization, then you can rest
assured that it is safe. Thousands of other users think so.
tc
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Isabelle Murphy wrote:
I downloaded open office and my computer tells me not to run the
software because there is no valid digital signature. How do I know
it is safe to run it?
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