MD5 was designed for cryptographic use but is now considered weak for security. Today it is used primarily for file integrity checks and checksums — not for passwords or security.
SHA-512 provides the highest security. SHA-256 is the current standard for most security applications. MD5 and SHA-1 are deprecated for cryptographic use.
Yes. Run the downloaded file through this tool and compare the SHA-256 hash to the one published by the software provider. If they match, the file is authentic and unmodified.
No. Cryptographic hashes are one-way functions. Given a hash, it is computationally infeasible to reconstruct the original input (for strong algorithms like SHA-256 and SHA-512).