Windows 7: Inspecting .exe files

Hey guys,



What programs do you guys use if you want to inspect an exe file? Is there something out that will analyse it and tell me if the file is of a risk to my system?

any anti-virus program should allow you to scan any file.

which AV software are you using?

when you right-click on an exe file, do you see an option like 'scan for viruses' or similar?

alternatively you can upload any dodgy looking file to an online checker such as virustotal, which runs the files through a series of AV engines and reports back a score of un-trustworthiness - 0/41 means it's clean, while 41/41 means get rid of the file now!

Hi Mickey,

I actually mean like something that will let me see the contents of the exe file and will tell me what it will install on my system before I actually install it.

i'm not quite sure what you mean, all you'll see is a bunch of gibberish hexadecimal data, like this



it will be nothing that anybody could read nor understand - except for a computer.

if this is what you are looking for, you'll need a hex editor - some googling should find you one.

As suggested above, using an anti-virus program is your best bet. Just select the file, right-click and choose to scan with your anti-virus program.

Contents? it would just be code/hexa data as shown above.

But if you would still like to try: FlexHex , WinHex, HexWorkshop , FileAlyzer (offers a readout of the file's contents)

Hi,

If I have an exe file and want to know the contents I try to extract them with a small program called Universal Extractor, you can find it here Universal Extractor | LegRoom.net
I prefer to use the portable version myself (UniExtract Binary Archive).

If that fails then I tend to install said program inside a sandbox, this gives me the opportunity to delete its contents and keep my install safe

Sandboxie can be found here Sandboxie - Sandbox software for application isolation and secure Web browsing

It goes without saying to always AV scan your downloads before opening/running them .

Hope this helps .

Nightreaper.

Sandboxie looks interesting, I'll have to have a further look into that one