Portable Executable - PE

The Portable Executable (PE) format is a file format for executables, object code, DLLs and other used in 32/64 bit versions of Windows OS.

A PE file contains the following sections:

1. .text - contains the executable code
2. .rdata - hold read-only data that is globally accessible within the program
3. .data - stores global data access throughout the program
4. .idata - sometimes present and stores the import function information
5. .edata - sometimes present and stores the export function information
6. .pdata - only in 64 bit executables and stores exceptional handling information
7. .rsrc - stores resources needed by the executables
8. .reloc - contains information for relocation of library files

Tools used to examine PE files:

1. PEview 

Source: Practical Malware Analysis, hackerzvoice