Checksums, SFC, CRC's...

[Drew Scott Daniels]

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone knows of any database or list of checksums for
Microsoft files. I realize System File Checker (SFC) provides some of the
functionality that I'm looking for, but I don't like SFC 5.1 and the SFC
that comes with Windows 98 doesn't have premade databases for newer files.

SFC 5.1 problems:
- Can't recover files from MSDN's multi-install CD
- Doesn't show why it wants to recover files
- Doesn't show which files it wants to recover
- Seems to rely on a dll cache
Useful features:
- Seems to support new files automatically (signed files?)
- Allows users to recover files from original installation media

Win 98's SFC problems:
- Only supports one file version at a time
- Relies on users knowing that new (anything not in the baseline) files
  are valid
- No baseline databases beyond the originals from the CD's
Useful features:
- Allows users to recover files from original installation media
- Shows users why it thinks a file is invalid
- Shows information about the expected file and the given file (CRC?,
Version, Date...)
...

Basically, I want to be able to have a database of valid MS (and wine)
file information to:
- Detect corrupted files (viruses, file system damage...)
- Allow easy recovery of corrupted files
- Detect unofficial updates
- Detect that a file update is available (security, new release...)
- Create a list of non operating system files for backup
...

Any suggestions/pointers are appreciated.

     Drew Daniels