To protect the integrity of the binaries the Monero team provides a cryptographically signed list of all the [SHA256](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-2) hashes. If your downloaded binary has been tampered with it will be produce a [different hash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_verification) than the one in the file.
Calculate the hash of the Monero binary with the command: `certUtil -hashfile monero-gui-win-x64-v0.16.0.2.zip SHA256` (if you downloaded a command-line only version, replace `monero-gui-win-x64-v0.16.0.2.zip` accordingly).
If your hash **DOES NOT** match **DO NOT CONTINUE.** Instead delete the Monero binary from the `Downloads` directory and go back to [section 4.1](#41-download-binary).