[Ham-Computers] Adobe Reader 9.2

[John and Linda Miller]

Ver 9.x.x of Adobe Reader, for me, simply took too much real estate on my hard drive for value received.  For me, that meant too many bells and whistles I never used and therefore didn't need, so I stayed at 8.x.x.  Even at 8 and clear back to 5 there were many things I did not understand.

I, too, eventually had search problems when that feature was added.  Last I knew those problems still existed.  Even though it was free, I got it to use it, not to become a research project as it why it didn't work.

The security vulnerabilities of Adobe Reader eventually caused me to go in to my 8.1.7 (Edit/Preferences/Javacript) and uncheck Enable Adobe Javascript.  The security people in the media would alert us that Adobe had a problem, that Adobe didn't immediately know how to solve the problem but acknowledged and were working on it, so the safest thing was to disable Javascript.  Leaving it permanently disabled, for me, caused no problems.

A friend in the business suggested I go to www.foxitsoftware.com, download the free Foxit Reader (not in any way associated with Mozilla Firefox browser) and smile.  I did so, set it as my default reader, and smiled.  Good grief, Foxit Reader took less that one-tenth of the space Adobe Reader took, and had no issues.  It just worked and worked.  I initially kept Adobe Reader, for backup, just in case.  After six months, I was using Foxit Reader 99.9 per cent of the time.  After nine months, I really had no need to retain Adobe Reader.  I've pushed and pushed Foxit Reader, and so far find no way to break it.

Furthermore, support when you need it is very fast by e-mail addressed to sales at foxitsoftware.com.  Foxit Reader may now at 3.1.4 for Windows.  There is a brand new version for MAC, but it may be too new for the website.  If interested, you may need to e-mail them.

Before commencing with Foxit Reader, I e-mailed them and said that I was a Firefox browser, and asked them what worked with that browser.  The tech responded in less than 24 hours that (at that time) there was an issue with a toolbar and an e-Bay icon they used that bothered Firefox, so he sent me a "vanilla" edition, since I had no need for the toolbar or icon, and it's still the one I use.

John W0IKT