Ever wondered what that MD5sum and SHA1sum things are when you are downloading ISO images? Whether it’s a Linux distro, or any other file, you might have seen these ‘checksums’ floating around.

Their purpose is to allow you to verify that you have a complete and uncorrupted copy of a file. If you can generate the same checksum with your copy of the file, then the file must be a true copy.

So, how do you verify these checksums?

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Maybe you’ve just installed a dual boot system. It’s all going well and good, but when you start the computer, Windows appears at the bottom of the boot menu.

You might still want to use Windows as your primary operating system, and so pressing down a few times and Enter each boot time could get frustrating. You’d ideally like Windows at the top of the boot menu, and Linux second.

In this quick tutorial, I’m going to show you how to use KGRUBEditor, a program for editing your boot menu settings, to re-order the menu so that Windows is first, and the default choice.

(If you’d rather quickly edit the configuration file by hand, without installing new software, take a look at this alternative tutorial).

First of all, we need to install KGRUBEditor. You’ll probably find it in your package manager if you search for kgrubeditor (help on installing packages).

Once it’s installed, launch it, from the System category.

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It’s back to basics for this hybrid printable guide and standard FOSSwire post, detailing how to set up a dual boot installation with Ubuntu 8.04 co-existing alongside Windows Vista or XP.

Click here to download a fully printable PDF with all the screenshots, or just keep reading below!

You can also grab the source OpenDocument Text, for translations and derivative works.

Read the rest of Dual Boot Ubuntu with Windows Vista/XP (with Printable Guide)