Anyone know how to find out what a file can do

Anyone know how to view what a file can do? Any programs or tools needed? I have tried with a hex editor and it shows me all the numbers, what can I do next? :p

i think the only way to get any idea about it is to use a dissasembler, i dont know of any free ones, but there is one called w32dasm that has a demo version available, a search on google should give you some sites to get it from

you will also need a very good knowledge of hex and assembly code to be able to get any sense from a compiled .exe file (i assume this is the type of file youre talking about), the only way to find out really easily what the file does is to have access to the actual source code of the file ie. what it was compiled with to start with

hope this is of a bit of help to you

Thanks :)

if you just want a general idea of what the .exe does then the following might be of interest

http://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/

Otherwise it's as MrLeachy says - find a decompiler -- any idea what language the source code is in as that should help narrow down a suitable decompiler?

Z