Earlier this month, 7-Zip stable version 15.12 was released after a long time, and the new version adds a couple of new features to the widely used file compression software. The support for RAR5 format is probably the highlight of this version.
Over the last weekend, I installed the latest version of 7-Zip and didn’t use it after that. Last evening, while composing how to remove Cast to Device entry from Windows 10 context menu, I noticed the new CRC SHA entry in the context-menu added by 7-Zip.
So when you install the latest version of 7-Zip on your Windows 10, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 7, or earlier versions, it adds two entries to the file/folder context menu: 7-Zip, and CRC SHA. Clicking on the newly added CRC SHA entry displays CRC-32, CRC-64, SHA-1, SHA-256, and * (calculates and displays both SHA and CRC values) entries.
What is CRC?
As many of you already know, CRC stands for Cyclic Redundancy Check and is used in digital networks to detect accidental changes to data. Read more about CRC by visiting this page of Wikipedia.
What’s SHA?
SHA or Secure Hash Algorithm developed by the National Security Agency in the U.S. and is widely used to determine the integrity of data. SHA is often used to check the integrity of data downloaded from the web to make sure that the downloaded data is not corrupted in transmission or due to other issues.
There are plenty of tools out there to calculate CRC and SHA value in Windows operating system. Previous versions of 7-Zip also supported calculating CRC and SHA, but the process was not very straight-forward.
The latest version of 7-Zip makes calculating these hash values a little easier by adding CRC SHA entry to the file/folder context menu.
While the new CRC SHA entry is definitely helpful, a large number of PC users are not aware of these features and don’t use them at all.
If you are using any other tool to calculate CRC and SHA hash value or don’t use these features at all, you might want to remove the CRC SHA entry from the context menu.
Remove CRC SHA from the context menu
To remove CRC SHA entry from the right-click menu in any version of Windows, follow the given below instructions without any deviations.
Step 1: Open 7-Zip File Manager by typing 7-Zip in the Start search box and then pressing Enter key.
Step 2: Once the 7-Zip window is launched, click Tools menu and then click Options to open the same.
Step 3: Switch to the 7-Zip tab. Under the Context menu items section, uncheck the checkbox labeled CRC SHA >, and then click the Apply button to get rid of CRC SHA from the context menu.
NOTE: If you see an error dialog with “An event was unable to invoke any of the subscribers” message, click OK button to remove the context menu entry.
I hope this helps!
Russell says
Instructions dont match Win-7 (PRO x64)
Jessica strong says
If you are a developer and installed a 7-zip application as of late on your Windows 10, then you will see another choice called CRC-SHA in the context menu.
JeremiahUSA says
Simple, easy to understand. Wish others would write how-to articles that were so easy…plus screenshots!
Ruthie says
Excellent, clear and simple-to-understand description and instructions. Thank you so much! Hope you win the lottery this week! xox
Fer Vacaflor says
Thank you very much for this useful information, I didn’t know why this option was added to the contextual menu, now I know and thank you for that.
Rudi says
A program should not add something to the context menu without explanation to the user.
I’m glad you explained it, so now I now what it is for.
Thank you so much.
Harry says
Thanks for the great article and the description – it really helped
Please you keep up the good work!
michael.- says
Thanks a lot!
Just now I have a clear understanding of this tool… I’ll keep-it!!!
:-)
admin says
@ Jer Roh
Thanks for your kind words. Glad to know that our guide helped you.
Jer Roh says
Thank you for making this so clear. Adding the info describing what CRC and SHA were actually for really helped me understand whether or not I wanted it! Thanks also for the super clear instructions for removing it.
Brian L. says
Great article and the solution worked. I knew what CRC is, but had no clue this context menu item was part of 7-Zip. Thanks!
Suzanne says
I wondered what this was! Was thinking it might have been a virus or something! Google comes to the rescue again, so glad I found this link. Now I know its ‘OK’ I don’t have to worry about it. Thank you very much. (Not sure I’ll use it, haven’t got a clue really) :-D