Has anyone tried Foxit Reader?

[k4kyv]

I am increasingly finding Adobe Acrobat Reader a PITA to use.  It is slow to load, and scrolling through a document is jerky, sometimes making it difficult to land on a desired page without manually typing in the page number. And it crashes a lot.  Sometimes just having the program open in the background causes my computer to freeze up while I am running other programs or surfing the web.  Not to mention that it is a resource hog.

I have been hearing good things about Foxit PDF Reader, that it is free, fast and that the program file is small.

But I read somewhere that ads pop up on the free version.  How  could that be if you use it offline to read PDF's that are stored in your documents file?  Also I have heard that it puts a watermark on every page, but that with the paid version the watermark goes away.

I would like to hear from anyone who has used this and what you think of it.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php

[WQ9E]

Don,

I just started using it yesterday.  I have been increasingly annoyed with the latest version of Adobe and after it refused to let me select what I wanted to print from a schematic (it kept redefining what I selected) I downloaded Foxit.  I have yet to see any pop-up ads (I did decline downloading the toolbar which may be where they originate) or any watermarks.

So far, it is much more responsive and faster scrolling than Adobe and has worked perfectly.  I am on Spring Break for a week so I have several BA projects and will be using a lot of PDF manuals so I will update if I run into problems.  But after the first 3 hours of use I set Foxit as my default PDF reader.  As I recall, Adobe started out in the Mac world and I don't think the transition to the PC has ever been close to perfect.  The earlier versions were major resource hogs (the later versions probably are also but I was running it on a couple of PC's that I built to handle large digital image files so they stand up to it).  Thus far I am very happy with Foxit and it seems to get good reviews.

Rodger WQ9E

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

As I recall, Adobe started out in the Mac world and I don't think the transition to the PC has ever been close to perfect. 

So did MS Excel. Mac doesn't even need Adobe PDF reader since OS X display imaging is based on PDF. PDF reading is essentially built in.

[K9ACT]

A fellow ham raves about it and claims it has several orders of magnitude less computer overhead.

For what it's wort, I downloaded it and it will not run on Vista, like so many other programs I use.

js

[k4kyv]

I have about the same opinion of Vista, based on what I have heard and read about it, as I do of Daylight Shifting Time and slopbucket.

Micro$haft finally got it right with XP, which turned out to be a stable OS that works well with most applications and is more reliable and user-friendly than the old DOS based systems like Win95 through ME.  They should have left well enough alone, and followed the example of Apple's Macintosh OSX, with minor upgrades as needed, but holding on to the same basic system rather than planned obsolescence by re-inventing the wheel every few years whether it needs it or not.

[K4TLJ]

I just downloaded and installed Version 3.0 from the Foxit site. I have a Vista system. It works perfectly. I did a custom install and deselected the toolbar, etc.

[K9ACT]

Cancel my last.

I just downloaded Foxit again and the Vista machine just gobbled it up so I was able to uninstall Adobe.

I also loaded into my  my XP laptop in the shack and it works fine there too.

Only problem is getting rid of Adobe on that one.  After uninstalling it, a search for Adobe found pieces all over the drive.  There must be 100 or more.

I still can not run PwSdr on Vista or the Voice Shaper I just fell in love with.

js

[k4kyv]

Well, you guys convinced me, so I downloaded and installed it.  Overall, I find it a tremendous improvement over Acrobat Reader.  Much faster and less spastic, and so far, hasn't caused the computer to freeze up.

I haven't uninstalled Acrobat Reader yet; I want to thoroughly try this first.

One thing I notice is that some documents may have a little less sharpness than when viewed with Acrobat, but not sure if it is my imagination or if they really are slightly more fuzzy.

[K9ACT]

One very strange thing happened last night.

A very large, ugly and useless tool bar showed up  at the top of my  Firefox browser with all sorts of inane Foxit links.  It was irritating as hell but I found that it showed up as a separate program in the Add/Remove program list in the Tool Box.

I removed it of course.  Small price to pay for a nice reader.

js

[k4kyv]

I haven't seen it yet, but I remember a message during the installation process saying that the toolbar would be installed.  I couldn't find any option to decline it, hoping that I can get rid of it if it shows up.  But so far it hasn't.

If I hadn't got rid of all the extraneous toolbars that came with programs I have installed, or made it a point to decline them, my Firefox display page would be about 1" high, with the rest of the screen taken up with useless toolbars.  Besides the blue Windows bar at the top of the page, I display the address bar and bookmarks toolbar as it is, plus the tab bar and and the menu bar, which already take up 2" at the top, in addition to the taskbar and the Firefox bar at the bottom of the screen, which take up about 3/4 inch of bottom  space.  I have already lost nearly 3" of screen space with toolbars and task bars, so the last thing I need is additional clutter.

You have to be careful when you install software, whether it be freeware or something you paid good money for.  They have a bad habit of trying to sneak in extra stuff you don't need like the Google and Yahoo toolbars by default, and during the installation you have to check a box, which is often cleverly hidden in some inconspicuous spot on the page, to decline them.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Heh, heh.... Windows....

[kc2ifr]

Installed Foxit and so far its great!
BTW........u can get rid of the tool bar in Firefox by going to View....then Toolbars and uncheck the Foxit toolbar.

Thanks for the tip guys!

Bill

[flintstone mop]

Don't worry Vista folks, struggling with your OS.
M$ will release M$7 soon.
Vista seems like ME.

Fred

[W1RKW]

For those who do not want or can't afford MS Office try Open Office by Sun.  It works just as good  if not better than MS Office and best of all it's free and includes an equivalent Power Point app too. 

[KX5JT]

As someone with an IT background, I was staying away from Vista like the plague.  When I bought a new desktop last year that had Vista installed on it, I figured let's see what all the problems are.   After getting a Vista certified usb to serial cable, I have never experienced a single problem.  I am happy.  Okay now I gotta go download this Foxit reader.... 

[K9ACT]

One more reason to love it.

The "File" pull down includes an option to "Convert to PDF, a feature not included in Adobe.

It's not included in the initial Foxit download either but if you click on it while on line, it will link you to the plugin download and voila! a PDF maker that will convert any printable file into a PDF.

It's free but they put an "evaluation copy" at the top of converted files but you can always pay for it if that is bothersome.

js

[k4kyv]

I already have a PDF converter, called PrimoPDF.  It is installed as a virtual printer.  I click on Print, and then select a printer.  I can select my regular printer or the PDF converter.  If I choose the converter, instead of printing the page, it creates a PDF version of the document and saves it to desktop or wherever I choose to save it.

I think the Foxit PDF converter works the same way, but I don't need two of them.

[WB3JOK]

After reading this thread I downloaded and installed Foxit reader and it does work much faster than Acrobat Reader.

But I ran into an interesting problem right away... I bought a nice (scanned .pdf) manual from Artek Media for my nonworking HP 5425L boatanch.. I mean, 50 MHz counter, and immediately found that 90% of the pages showed up blank except for the Artek watermark 

It displays perfectly normally using Acrobat Reader...

all my other .pdf documents work with both readers. 

-Charles
can't get rid of Adobe yet...

[k4kyv]

I notice that some documents display on the screen with more clarity and better quality using Acrobat.  Haven't compared the quality of printouts of the same documents.

I checked using task manager and also ran Process Explorer, and couldn't find evidence that Acrobat consumes any computer resources when it is not running, so I don't plan to uninstall it.  For normal viewing, Foxit is so much faster and easier to use, I set it as the default viewer, but still have Acrobat to fall back on in case of a problem.

But it might be better to stick with Acrobat when printing a large document to hard copy form.  It would be a waste of paper, ink and time to end up with less than the best possible quality.

I hope Foxit can eventually fix that problem.

[WQ9E]

For some PDF versions/features you may need a couple of the add-ins for Foxit, see page 5 of the manual (under Foxit help).  One of the plug-ins provides support for JPEG2000/JBIG format images which otherwise won't show up under Foxit.  The other plug-in improves graphics quality.

Like Don, I am leaving Adobe on my system but Foxit is now my default PDF reader.

Rodger WQ9E

[WB3JOK]

Thanks! I also got the same advice directly from Dave at Artek. That add-on fixed the problem 

[k4kyv]

Thanks! I also got the same advice directly from Dave at Artek. That add-on fixed the problem 

I downloaded both add-ons, but nothing changed the quality of the display.

I did have a blank page come up on a document the first day I installed Foxit, but I just assumed that the document itself was defective. I was just playing with it and it was nothing important; I don't even remember what it was, to see if it properly displays now.

To install the add-ons,  I clicked on the links on page 5 of the user manual; each one downloaded a zip file.  I extracted each file to the desktop and it appeared on the desktop inside its own folder.  The two unzipped files were named gdplus.dll and npFoxitReaderPlugin.dll  I moved each file from the folder it came in, to the "plugins" folder that is located inside the Foxit Reader folder, located in the Foxit Software folder, in the Program Files folder.

As I understood the instructions in the user manual, all you have to do is to place the dll files in the add-ons folder without going through any kind of installation process.

Is that how you did yours?

[WQ9E]

Don,

On mine I followed almost the same procedure except I extracted the files directly to the Foxit directory.

If you go to the help on the toolbar in Foxit and choose check for updates it will show which ones have been installed from the available updates and which have not been downloaded.

You might also want to go to the tools, more tools menu and see what additional tools you commonly use that you would like added to the toolbar.  I find the go to start/end of document handy so I added those along with a few other commonly used items.

I haven't noticed any quality difference yet so it must be based upon certain versions or quality of PDF scans.  But I will keep adobe available just in case.

Like you, I use PRIMO for my PDF conversions and I found with that the quality of output is much better when you choose to save the file as setup for print instead of screen (although the file is much larger).  I just scanned my AMR-101 receiver manual and Pierson KP-81 manual and sent them to BAMA and the original PDF conversion was not so great until I redid it as a print file.

Rodger WQ9E

[k4kyv]

Don,

On mine I followed almost the same procedure except I extracted the files directly to the Foxit directory.

That's what it says to do in the user's manual, but I'm not exactly sure what that means.  The way I have always downloaded zipped files in the past was to download the zipped file off the web site and have it save to desktop, then right click the icon that shows a folder with a belt strapped round it, and select "extract all".  When it is extracted, a new folder appears on the desktop right under the original.  That folder contains, in this instance, the unzipped .dll file.

I then navigated through C:\Program Files\Foxit Software\Foxit Reader\Foxit Reader.exe.  The Foxit Reader folder contains Foxit Reader.exe and several other files, including fxdecod1.dll, plus a folder named "plugins".  I either copied or moved the .dll files in the extracted desktop folder into the "plugins" folder in Foxit Reader.

I wonder if you would mind navigating through yours to see exactly where yours are.  I'm not sure if they are supposed to be in the "plugins" folder or in the parent "Foxit Reader" folder, or if it makes any difference.

Also, did you click on "install" anywhere in the process?

If you go to the help on the toolbar in Foxit and choose check for updates it will show which ones have been installed from the available updates and which have not been downloaded.

I opened the "check for updates" in Help, and it displayed two panes.  The one on the  left contains a list of available updates , and the right-hand pane, named "selected updates" is blank until select one or more from the list and then they appear in the righthand pane.

Once something is selected, there is an "install updates..." option when you return to the Help menu.

But all I could find were the lists of what updates, plug-ins or add-ons are available to download, and of which ones have been selected, ready for installation.  I couldn't find any list of what is already installed.

I am not sure if my extracted files were installed in the program by simply dropping them into that folder, or if they are just sitting in the folder waiting to be installed.  The instructions in the Users Manual imply that all you have to do is "extract them to the directory" but I find those instructions somewhat cryptic.

 

[WQ9E]

Don,

When you click on check for updates the ones downloaded and available for installation should show up in red (or at least a different color depending upon your windows color choices) and in a different font from the ones not downloaded.  If the JPEG Big and graphics updates aren't shown in red then try moving the extracted DLL files to the root directory of C:  I have found this necessary in the past for some programs although that was before I was using Windows Vista.

If that doesn't work you may need to download and extract them again.

Rodger WQ9E