Screenshots: Five tools to handle your hex editing needs

Developer

Screenshots: Five tools to handle your hex editing needs

By Brien Posey October 6, 2015, 8:00 AM PDT

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Introduction

Image: iStockphoto.com/Eyematrix

Introduction

Hex editors are typically used for serious work, but theyrncan also be fun to experiment with. Whether you’re a professional developer, arnhobbyist, or a complete novice, there is probably a hex editor that is a goodrnfit for you. This article lists five good choices among the many hex editorsrnthat are available today.

Note: This article is also available as an article.

Image: iStockphoto.com/Eyematrix

HxD Hex Editor

HxD Hex Editor is a free tool that seems to have all the basics covered. Whenrnyou open a file, the editor displays the offset, a hexadecimal representationrnof the file, and an ASCII representation of the file. This is standard behaviorrnfor most of the hex editors I have used over the years.

HxD Hex Editor

The programrnalso includes a search-and-replace function, which is essential for a hexrneditor. The one thing that sets this editor apart from barebones editors is itsrnability to open RAM and to open a disk.

Hex Workshop

Hex Workshop is a much more advanced hex editor. In addition to displaying thernbasic information provided by HxD Hex Editor and similar tools, it provides arnData At Offset, Structures, and Compare Result view.

Hex Workshop

HexrnWorkshop also contains other handy functions, such as a base converter, a hexrncalculator, and a checksum generator.

Hex Workshop sells for $89.95, but a free trial version isrnavailable for download.

Cygnus Hex Editor Free Edition

Cygnusrnhas all the features you would expect from a basic hex editor, such as thernability to modify, insert, and delete data and to do search and replace. One especiallyrnnice feature is the ability to paste from a file. This could be handy forrnmanually repairing a file that has a damaged header.

Free Hex Editor Neo

Free Hex Editor Neo offers a huge feature set. It can do all the basic thingsrnthat the previously described hex editors can do—but it can also openrnprocesses, files, volumes, and physical disks. In addition, Neo supportsrnbookmarks, which is extremely helpful when editing large files.

Free Hex Editor Neo

Neornincludes a large set of operators you can use when editing a file, includingrnrotations, logical shifts, arithmetic shifts, negation, and many more. Thernsoftware even supports the use of encryption.

Hackman Suite

Hackman Suite is a collection of u201chackingu201d utilities, one of which is a hex editor.rnA lot of times when a vendor bundles utilities into a single package, thernindividual utilities aren’t as good as some of the standalone utilities thatrnare available. In the case of the Hackman Suite, however, the included hexrneditor is quite good.

Hackman Suite

This tool can be used to examine data for files, folders,rndrives, memory, and ports. It also supports the use of filters, merging andrnsplitting of files, and the creation of executables, and it includes additionalrntools, such as a color picker, a calculator, and a template editor.

Hackman Suite sells for $27, but a free trial version isrnavailable for download.

By Brien Posey

* 1988 - Started teaching myself about computers \ * 1992 - Mainframe programmer for an insurance company \ * 1993 - Network Administrator for a different insurance company \ * 1996 - Author for The Cobb Group \ * 1998 - Network Administrator

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