HexMe

Every type of file is composed of specific types of code, but all of them can be analyzed as binary and hexadecimal. Dedicated viewers and editors are required to be able to perform any changes, but even the slightest one can completely alter the target file. Given you know what you’re doing, HexMe is an app which helps you with hex editing tasks.

Since there’s no setup involved to make it work, you get the chance to instantly take the application for a spin. Note, however, that functionality completely depends on .NET Framework, so it’s a good idea to install it if it’s not already there. On the other hand, you can easily carry it with you on a USB flash drive.

The visual design is clean, being composed mostly of a large text area to make identification of code easy, as well as editing itself. File open and save operations are handled from the file menu, because drag and drop is not supported as an input method, nor is there a context menu entry for instant access to the editor.

The corresponding HEX code is generated instantly. Unfortunately, the visual layout for the code itself is incredibly poor, with actual content and binary code only delimited by a simple spacing. Characters used feature the same formatting options, which makes working with large files pretty difficult.

This means that a great deal of attention needs to be invested in the editing process. The application doesn’t highlight selected elements to correspond with either binary or text values, thus making identification of items a pain. The original file is saved by default, but you can choose to save as a new file.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that HexMe is fitted with a poor set of features, not because of the lack of advanced options, but because of the disturbing arrangement and visual style of code representation inside the editing sheet.