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Time to say, Goodbye to Adobe PDF Reader!

PDF (Portable Document Format) reader is a very important software one needs. As now-a-days most of the product user manual, eBooks, visa application forms etc., are in PDF format.

Today’s computers almost always come with Adobe PDF reader installed by default. Till few weeks back I was also using it without much satisfaction!! No doubt Adobe PDF reader is a great product but I hate it for the following points:

1. I feel that Adobe PDF reader software is really bulky.
2. Loading time of PDF document is unnecessary in Adobe reader
3. Installation of Adobe PDF reader takes at least >= 5 minutes.

For past few weeks I am fiddling with another PDF reader called “Foxit Reader 2.0”.
In my experience with this new reader, I haven’t found any of the above mentioned disadvantages which I have with Adobe PDF reader.

Let me explain those 4 points in detail now:

i) I feel that Adobe PDF reader software is really bulky.

First of all downloading Adobe PDF reader isn’t an easy joke :) it takes at least 10 minutes to download using a dial-up connection. You know the size of the latest Adobe PDF reader 7.0.8? Its ~16.4 MB!!!

Just for reading an eBook (for example) why the hell one should download such a big file?
I was really surprised and happy to see that download file size of Foxit Reader is just 1.56 MB.

Find below the screenshot of the time it took for me to download Foxit Reader:

[As of now I couldn't attached the screenshots here via blogger.com. May be some issues with the server. So would upload it later]

2. Loading time of PDF document is unnecessary in Adobe reader

Adobe PDF reader installs lots of plug-ins most of us are unnecessary for us. That’s the major reason for the download size to be more. Also even when you open a single page PDF file it would be pretty slow. It’s because it does lots of background check/work which I am not interested at all!

To increase the performance of Adobe PDF Reader, check these below links:

i) Version 6.0 : http://blogs.msdn.com/tims/archive/2004/11/24/269567.aspx
ii) Version 7.0 : http://blogs.msdn.com/jonathanh/archive/2004/12/22/330288.aspx

Why should one download and install all unwanted plug-in / features into the system and then remove it in the name of increasing the performance? This wastes my internet charges, telephone charges, my time :) etc.,


If you have ever been frustrated with how Acrobat drains system resources, then this PDF reader is for you.

FoxIt Reader loads / opens the PDF document real quick.

3. Installation of Adobe PDF reader takes at least >= 5 minutes

Adobe PDF Reader takes at least 5 minutes to install where-as Foxit Reader just got over within a minute! When I completed the wizard and clicked on “Finish” button it just took few seconds for the software to install.

[As of now I couldn't attached the screenshots here via blogger.com. May be some issues with the server. So would upload it later]

Based on these factors I guess FoxIt is the best option than Adobe PDF reader for simply going through a PDF file or filling a PDF form. What do you think?

Update: Amit Agarwal (MVP) infomed me about Adobe Digital Editions. May be I would try it out sometime tomorrow and update this post based on that.

Updated on November 13th: I got my hands dirty with "Adobe Digital Editions". I am not that impressed by this flash based software! It doesn't give me a feeling of reading a eBook the regular way :)

Related Post: Foxit - the Best PDF Reader

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Comments

Anonymous said…
FoxIT used to have a huge printing problem. Can you print properly with version 2.0?
1:04 PM, November 11, 2006
Vadivel said…
Hello "Anonymous" :) to my knowledge it seems to have been fixed.

May be you want to go through this thread for further information on that :: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=1026&page=3?

In particular, chk out the response given by "Jessamine".

Hope this helps!
1:11 PM, November 11, 2006
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