Windows only: The final RTM release of Windows 7 should be released later this month, and blogger and developer Long Zheng has created a small application designed to verify that your download is the real thing.

The idea behind this simple app: Sometimes folks download their Windows images from unofficial sources, and sometimes that means users end up downloading files with nefarious intent instead of the actual disk image they were looking for. This application determines whether or not your download is legit before you try to run it.

To verify your own Windows ISO image files, just drag the disc image over to the Windows 7 ISO Verifier executable, or launch the application and choose the image from the browse dialog. You'll have to wait while the verifier does its thing, and when it's complete you'll either be told that the ISO is valid, and exactly which version it is, or you'll find out that you just wasted many hours downloading something that isn't legit—but at least you can avoid infecting your system with whatever virus some joker attached to the bad image file.

Windows 7 ISO Verifier is a free download for Windows only, and since the verification hashes are requested over the internet you won't have to download it again when the final version comes out.

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