FileEyes

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffAugust 1, 2011Image files, document files, video files, audio files...all these different kinds of files need their own viewers and players. Or do they? FileEyes is an interesting program that can display and play a ridiculous number of different file types. The program's features don't entirely make sense, but it does indeed do what it's meant to do.The program's interface is not the most intuitive thing we've ever seen. There's a button labeled File Explorer and another labeled Open File. The program also has a clock, a to-do list, and a calendar, which seems a little superfluous in a program the main purpose of which is to view and play files. We did like the fact that the program has a tabbed interface, making it possible to open multiple files and easily switch between them. The program has no Help file or other instructions, so we just jumped right in and started exploring. We clicked the File Explorer button and it did indeed open a screen that let us navigate to different locations on our computer, but every time we tried to open a file of any format, we got an error message that read, "This file type is not yet supported by FileEyes!" After that, we tried the Open File button, which brought up the usual Windows Explorer interface. This time, we were able to open files, including the ones that had given us error messages just moments before. FileEyes did indeed play audio and video in a variety of formats, as well as display various different types of documents and images. Long story short, the program works, but not necessarily in the way that we expected it to. If you're desperate for a program that supports numerous file types, FileEyes will do it, but it's not a particularly elegant solution.FileEyes installs politely but leaves a folder behind upon removal.