Best free pdf viewer ?

Acroread is very resource heavy. Is there a lite free pdf reader ?

 

Check out the Foxit reader.

John

 

Yes, I use PDF-XChange Viewer. It is pretty light, IMO. Other than that, you might want to try Foxit viewer, which is good too.

 

I also recommend Foxit, it is very lightweight. PDFs load very quickly and doesnt feel sluggish at all.

Installation takes like 5 seconds.

 

After having used foxreader i have switched to STDUviewer, which is even lighter. Maybe I should not advertise it too much, because the popular progs have a tendency to get bloated.

 

So is STDUviewer better ? How ?

 

Just a curiosity.
I know that you do state that you find Acrobat Reader sluggish.

However, switching from 8 to 9 I have noticed a definitve performance increase.
If you were on 8 you may want to give 9 a try - on my Vaio its quite fast.

If you had version 9 and it was too slow for you - good luck with your search

 

This is what I use as well. It's very lightweight and fast when opening up PDF's unlike Adobe reader which has to load, it also opens up browser PDF's a lot faster than Adobe.

It performs extremely well to the point where I don't care what new versions of Adobe Reader Adobe comes out with, I just go straight to Foxit.

 

second that.. switched to Foxit few days back..but while using adobe, i cud see thumbnails of my files..here Foxit doesnt do that..or may be i m demanding too much from a free software..

 

+1 for Foxit...which I also installed recently in place of Adobe. Someone also recently suggested sumatrapdf to me here on NBR... http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html

 

Current Adobe readers load pretty fast. I've actually switched back to Adobe from Foxit.

 

sumatraPDF very lightweight

 

Another vote for Foxit reader. I recently had to fill out a PDF form, save it (filled out) and email it. With Adobe Reader 9 it didn't allow me to do that saying that I had to upgrade to the paid version (pro?) to do what I wanted. I uninstalled Adobe and put Foxit 3 and I was able to do that without any issues and it's definitely lighter and faster than Adobe.

 

I instaled foxit, it indeed is nice
I like the highlighting and other annotating tools too.

 

foxit rules for free pdf's

 

+1 for foxit, been using it for about a year now. it loads faster, runs faster, works better, is more secure, and its freeware to boot. kick adobe to the curb.



ev

 

Does anyone experience lag when scrolling through PDFs? I get it no matter what program Reader or FoxIt.

 

I dont - by scrolling you mean the space key to get to the next page/sub-page ?

 

I use Sumatra PDF, which is extremely lightweight, although it quite inefficient and slow at printing.

STDUviewer looks very interesting.

 

+1 for Foxit, as mentioned.

 

I'll try Foxit again, but after a program update, it always forced me to confirm a UAC prompt whenever I opened a PDF, even w/in browser. Pretty annoying.
I'll try installing it while logged in to an adminstrator account this time....

EDIT: Which installer do you choose on the Foxit website, Windows Installer (MSI), .exe, or the Zip package?

 

Based on a member's suggestion I got rid of Acrobat and started using Foxit a few days back. Only last night I realized/ discovered that Foxit has a PDF editor, which you can get as a plug in. It is free but has some kind of a banner which, for informal stuff, is tolerable.

 

I used the exe package.

 

Foxit DOES offer a thumbnail view

 

I like Adobe Reader. It's not slow at all for me, but I could see how it may be a bit bigger than it needs to be for ye olde average user.

 

I'm going back to Adobe Reader, unlike Foxit, it works properly with UAC and doesn't force me to go through a prompt each time the program is launched.

 

What is UAC ??

 

I kno because I read about it a couple of times.

UAC = User Account Control - its when the screen darkens in Vita and a "pop-up" asks whether you wish to proceed/allo the program to execute.

 

Hmm, I've never had a problem with Foxit and UAC. Anyways, Foxit isn't just about reading PDF's, they also offer a PDF creator (best PDF I've used), and organizer (merge PDFs), and others. Not all is free, however.

 

I used to like Foxit but then it gave troubles with Firefox. Whenever I tried to open a pdf doc within Firefox my PC froze for like 2 mins, that pissed me off.

Using SumatraPDF now, same thing - lightweight, does the job.

 

sorry for my ignorance.. but somehow it doesnt show the thumbnails on my system.. or is there some feature i have turned off..??

 

foxit hands down the best

 

and the resource hog is no longer an issue with this version 9.

I am a longtime fan on FoxitReader, but has started using Acrobat Reader 9 more and more, as some PDFs do require me to use it.

Furthermore, FoxitReader starting with v3.x, is getting a bit more intrusive, requiring installing certain plugins in order to use some extra options. I recommend staying with v2.x of Foxit Reader, if viewing PDFs is all you need.

cheers ...

 

I dunno, on my foxit, there is a thumbnail icon in the left handside mini-toolbar, below the bookmarks icon, and above the "layer" icon. When I click that thumbnail icon, I get a thumbnail view of the pages in the current pdf file.

 

Foxit does offer thumbnail view, check/reset your folder settings

 

no .no.., that is to view the pages inside the document once u open then.. i am asking about when i had a folder with pdf files, i open the folder n they looked like just another image files with a .pdf extensions

man.i checked n cross checked n even got my friends to check .. but there aint anything in the folder settings which would affect this..

but then its a good thing..why wud i want ppl ve to sneak preview of my precious pdf data lOl

 

its not like you can read anything from an icon thumbnail. I think if you uninstall adobe before installing foxit it deletes some entries/settings in the registry which shows the thumbnails.

smuggling illicit pics in .pdf format?

 

the funny thing is I havn't uninstalled the adobe before putting the Foxit in.. , or like should i be doing that,uninstalling adobe first..

he he he ..hmm..kinda true.. but that is smuggling part.. about illicitly.. i wouldnt say much