W7 Forums ISOs safe?

Hello,

I've followed many links to this site for downloading legal Windows 7 ISOs:

http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

I read they are the official ISOs hosted by Digital River. I also read Digital River hosts the content for Microsoft's online stores.

I understand they are legal because they do not come with a key. I'll be using a key that I bought.

So are the downloads safe and legit?

I don't want any malware!

Thanks.

macenied said:

Download the ISO from Microsoft, it's there.

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The only ones from Microsoft I can find link to the same host:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...duct-key/cde8f6e3-6034-4d4c-a97d-53cece849f2c

I guess its safe then?

556fmjoe said:

You should be safe with the links from Microsoft.

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The links are from a moderator, not from Microsoft itself.

Rigby said:

I don't know if the links are legit, but you may be able to verify the ISOs using a hash. Go to the MSDN download page:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/downloads/

Search for the exact version of Windows you downloaded, and click "Details". This will show a SHA-1 hash that you can check against that of your ISO.

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Thanks for your response.

How do you check the hash of the ISO?

I've never done this before.

If the hashes match, it is safe?

Rigby said:

You can use Microsoft's command line tool:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889768

Alternatively, there are a number of GUI-based utilities, such as Hashtab.
Yes. SHA-1 is a secure hash that is almost impossible to spoof.

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Thanks, I will try this out when I get home.