gHacks technology news » pdf reader http://www.ghacks.net A technology blog covering software, mobile phones, gadgets, security, the Internet and other relevant areas. Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:26:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Sumatra PDF Reader 1.0 Released http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/18/sumatra-pdf-reader-1-0-released/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/18/sumatra-pdf-reader-1-0-released/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:40:40 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=18622 We reviewed the Adobe Reader alternative Sumatra back in the beginning of 2008 and came to the conclusion back then that Sumatra was a lightweight and fast replacement that was ideal for viewing PDF documents. Version 1.0 of Sumatra was released yesterday which actually was one of the two updates that the developer of the pdf reader has published this year. The main changes since our last review are better pdf reading compatibilities, bug fixes, other compatibility fixes and additional features that have been added by the developer or contributors. Contributors you may ask? Sumatra is Open Source and it is therefor possible for others to contribute to the program.

Sumatra concentrates on pdf viewing only but does that very well. Pdf documents are opened blazingly fast and the program does not require lots of computer memory or resources in general to operate. It is offered as an installer or portable version and it’s size of 1.1 Megabytes make it an ideal candidate for mobile usage.

sumatra pdf viewer

We had some complaints about Sumatra which are still valid. It is for example not possible to mark and copy text from the documents. Not everyone might need that feature but those that do need to find another pdf viewer that comes with that option.

The main interface language of Sumatra (English) can be easily changed to several dozens others that are included in the download. The installer and portable version as well as the source code can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/18/sumatra-pdf-reader-1-0-released/feed/ 1 Adobe Reader Security Update http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/14/adobe-reader-security-update/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/14/adobe-reader-security-update/#comments Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:56:03 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=17246 Adobe has released a security patch for their Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat line of products that fix several security vulnerabilities that have been rated as critical. The vulnerabilities that have been discovered could cause Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat to crash which could potentially allow attackers to take control of the computer system. The security patch raises the version of Adobe Reader to 9.2 which is the version that users should install to protect their software programs from potential exploits.

Downloads are available for both Adobe Reader and Acrobat at the Adobe website for Windows, Mac and Unix. Acrobat users find download links for their product in the Adobe Security Bulletin which also contains details about the vulnerabilities that have been patched.

Our reader Paulus mentioned that the light version of Adobe Reader – called Adobe Reader Lite – is already available at various download sites including Major Geeks. Adobe Reader Lite is a third party project that removes several modules of Adobe Reader which are usually not needed by most users including popups and plugins.

Users who only want PDF reader capabilities can also take a look at Adobe Reader alternatives which are usually much faster than the original and more secure as well as they are not that targeted by hackers yet. Viable options include Foxit PDF Reader or muPDF.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/10/14/adobe-reader-security-update/feed/ 1 Adobe Reader 9.1 Lite http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/03/adobe-reader-91-lite/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/03/adobe-reader-91-lite/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:58:17 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/03/adobe-reader-91-lite/ Software programs usually grow with every release. Some of the remarkable products that made it from a tiny resource friendly application are Nero Burning Rom and Adobe Reader. Users who are fed up with those overweight programs usually flock to third party applications that provide a balance between resource usage and functionality. An alternatives for Adobe Reader is for example the popular pdf reader Foxit Reader.

Another possibility are so called lite versions of software suites. Both Nero Burning Rom (Nero Lite) and Adobe Reader have been modified by developers to reduce the program’s load times and storage requirements. Adobe Reader Lite has been recently updated to version 9.1 to catch up with the official Adobe Reader 9.1 release. Several plugins and other features that are usually not needed by the majority of users have been reduced from Adobe Reader Lite to make the software program more resource friendly. The basic functionality of working with pdf files has been retained.

The result is size decrease of more than 140 Megabytes compared to the official version of Adobe Reader 9.1 which uses 204 Megabytes of storage space after installation. Downloads are available for the English and other localized editions of Adobe Reader 9.1.

adobe reader lite

Adobe Reader 9.1 Lite speeds up the startup of Adobe Reader tremendously. It is a good alternative for users who prefer to use the original products instead of third party solutions.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/03/adobe-reader-91-lite/feed/ 4 Txtr Ebook Reader http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/19/txtr-ebook-reader/ http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/19/txtr-ebook-reader/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:00:24 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=10660 Ebook readers have become popular since the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle. Amazon’s Kindle 2 will be released next week. There are however other ebook readers that might make more sense for some users. One of the major points of criticism that Amazon’s Kindle has to face is its digital rights management. Ebooks that are purchased to be read on the Kindle come with DRM that makes it impossible to read them on other devices. That also means that you cannot sell the ebook or give or lend it to a friend. Another problem that arises is that Kindle 2 can only read pdf or doc files after they have been converted to another format. Not very practical for users who want to use the ebook reader mainly for reading pdf or doc files.

A viable alternative was announced some time ago in 2008 in the form of the Txtr Ebook Reader. The reader does not use DRM, supports a much broader format spectrum including pdf, html, Office and ePub formats, provides an Open Software architecture and uses a Linux kernel. It offers the same screen resolution as the Amazon Kindle 2 which is 600×800 pixels. The device makes use of an integrated accelerometer to automatically detect the orientation of the device and display the text accordingly.

txtr ebook reader

Another difference is the design of the Txtr ebook reader which has been streamlined to be usable with one hand. Other specs of the device are:

  • eInk Vizplex 6″ display at 600×800 pixels
  • 146mm x 128.2mm x 8mm, 260g
  • Freescale ARM11 CPU 532MHz
  • 64MB SDRAM onboard
  • MicroSD memory card slot
  • 8GB MicroSD card included
  • internal 3G/GPRS modem
  • USB 2.0 cable connection
  • Bluetooth 2.1 for audio, external keyboard and future enhancements
  • WiFi

The device will be released in the third quarter of 2009 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The price is unknown at this point in time. If you are looking for an ebook reader that supports a wide range of document formats out of the box and does not come with DRM then it might be a device to recon with. The main drawbacks are the missing “ebook library” that Amazon supplies and the availability and price.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2009/02/19/txtr-ebook-reader/feed/ 16 Adobe Reader 9 Lite http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/08/adobe-reader-9-lite/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/08/adobe-reader-9-lite/#comments Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:16:10 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=5213 Adobe just released a new version of the Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat. Mostly with features that end users like you and me will never use. Or does any of you really need Improved CAD and geospatial functionality, Native Adobe Flash® support or PDF Portfolios. The new version does load faster than the previous one but the loading time pales in comparison to third party alternatives like Foxit Reader, Sumatra or even Adobe Reader 9 Lite.

The creator of the Windows Vista Codec package created a lite version of Adobe Reader that got rid of most of the stuff that bloated the PDF reader but was not used by most users anyway. The lite version does not load as fast as Foxit Reader for instance but makes up for it by still being the official Adobe product, something that a few users probably prefer.

Adobe Reader 9 Lite uses roughly 6 Megabytes of memory and 18 Megabytes of Swap space when running which is extremely well for that kind of applications. I can definitely recommend using Adobe Reader 9 Lite if you have no use for most Adobe Reader features. Foxit Reader and others are still excellent alternatives that come with an even lower memory footprint and faster load times.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/07/08/adobe-reader-9-lite/feed/ 2 Foxit Reader 2.3 http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/26/foxit-reader-23/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/26/foxit-reader-23/#comments Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:54:48 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=3921 Foxit Reader 2.3 supports tabs, that was the headline on many blogs that I read regularly, for instance at Cybernet News and Download Squad. My first thought was that surely no one but die hard pdf users would need tabs in a pdf reader. I don’t need tabs, I need a fast tool that displays the pdf document correctly. I rarely open more than one pdf document in a day, maybe that’s why it is so hard for me to find this new feature useful.

But tabs are fortunately not the only new feature that has been introduced in Foxit Reader 2.3. The list of new functions in comparison to older versions of Foxit Reader is indeed impressive. The good news first, Foxit Reader is still starting blazingly fast. I was a bit worried about the multimedia player that was integrated in the pdf reader, this could be the first step to a bloated player. As of know this fear is not justified.

Among the new features are a magnifier, rulers & guides, automatic scrolling, font information, select all behavior with CTRL + A, a commenting text tool, bookmark design, callout and textbox tool and the option to print only portion of a page. The search can be moved into a separate window that floats above the contents. This is extremely nice if you need more screen space for the pdf document.

Foxit Reader 2.3 is a great new version of the popular pdf reader. It adds several new functions that are an improvement and some that might be interesting to users who do work with pdf documents all day.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/26/foxit-reader-23/feed/ 7 PDFMeNot http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/pdfmenot/ http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/pdfmenot/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:54:29 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/?p=3729 You might know the useful website BugMeNot which provides usernames and passwords to various websites on the Internet. It essential is a way to access information that are only available after logging in which means the website is forcing the user to register to access the contents. This does have several advantages like not getting spammed, saving time because each registration process takes a few minutes and a hassle free access to the information.

PDFMeNot is another time safer especially if you do not like the Adobe PDF format at all. It accepts PDF documents and turns them into some sort of slideshow with zooming functionality. The easiest way to use PDFMeNot is to either paste the url of a PDF document into the form on the main website or add the url behind http://pdfmenot.com/view/ in the address bar.

A bookmarklet and a Firefox extension are available as well so everyone should find something that he likes to use and feels comfortable with. Another nice feature is that you can embed PDF documents in your website if you use PDFMeNot.

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]]> http://www.ghacks.net/2008/04/05/pdfmenot/feed/ 3 Foxit Reader 2.0 a lightweight PDF Reader http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/17/foxit-reader-20-a-lightweight-pdf-reader/ http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/17/foxit-reader-20-a-lightweight-pdf-reader/#comments Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:30:12 +0000 Martin http://www.ghacks.net/2006/07/17/foxit-reader-20-a-lightweight-pdf-reader/ If you are looking for a fast lightweight alternative to Adobes heavyweight pdf reader you might want to try foxit reader. A new version of foxit reader has been released a month ago and I decided to give it a try. Mainly because of the positive comments about it whenever I wrote an article about the Adobe Reader. So, why would someone want to use foxit reader 2.0 instead of the “official” pdf reader by Adobe ?

The most important factor for me personaly is speed. I don´t want a fancy program that does lots of useless stuff that I will never need. I want a program that loads fast, displays the pdf in an instant and does not lock my system for the time it loads. Foxit Reader 2.0 does exactly that. It displays pdf documents the way the Adobe Reader does but is faster and does not cluster your system with unnecessary registry entries, dlls and files that are loaded at system startup. Unpack it into a directory of your choice, start it from there and you are ready to go.

The Adobe Reader version that was installed on my system had a size of nearly 70 megabytes (including updates) while foxit reader only uses a little more than three and still has the same functionality. You can view and print pdf documents, edit documents that offer this option. It runs instantly without installation and is available for windows and Linux. You can install foxit reader on your system and check it out for yourself. If you think it is sufficient remove the Adobe Reader from your system to free up some disk space.

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