DICOM Viewer

DICOM Viewer is a tiny and portable software program that gives you the possibility to view medical files with the DICOM format, as the name implies. It doesn't contain complicated options or configuration parameters, making it accessible to all types of users.

Portability perks

Since there is no setup pack involved, you can drop the program files in any part of the hard drive and just click the executable to launch DICOM Viewer. Another option is to make a copy and place it on a pen drive to directly run the tool on any PC. More importantly, it doesn't change the Windows registry configuration.

Simple interface and options

Wrapped up in a classical-looking interface made from a large window that shows just a few options, DICOM Viewer lets you open DICOM files, as well as .bmp and .pcx-formatted files.
You can preview the selected image, adjust the window width and center, as well as check out the original and selected image histogram. What's more, you can select the DICOM header or rectangle, enable smoothing mode, or hide the toolbar and status bar to get a better view of the whole picture.

Evaluation and conclusion

The tool didn't put a strain on the overall performance of the machine in our tests, thanks to the fact that it needed low CPU and RAM to work properly. It had a good response time and minimal impact on computer performance, using low CPU and RAM.
On the other hand, it prompted an error dialog and immediately crashed afterward while we were tinkering with options. We must also take into account the fact that it hasn't been updated for a long time, and it likely has compatibility issues with later Windows editions. You can use it if you're running an older operating system, though.