PDF files

[KenK]

I forget, where do I look to see what software is used for various files?
I'm interested in name of PDF ap. It doesn't show a name when it operates
and causes me much grief - takes forever to show files and often hangs the
system. I want to uninstall it.

Anyone have a favorite reliable ap to view and print pdf files? Adobe, from
what I've read, seems to have a lot of security holes and other problems.

XP Home if it matters.

TIA

 

[Bruce Hagen]

I forget, where do I look to see what software is used for various files?
I'm interested in name of PDF ap. It doesn't show a name when it operates
and causes me much grief - takes forever to show files and often hangs the
system. I want to uninstall it.

Anyone have a favorite reliable ap to view and print pdf files? Adobe,
from
what I've read, seems to have a lot of security holes and other problems.

XP Home if it matters.

TIA

Foxit Reader
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/


Google Chrome will be offered during the download. Just uncheck the box when
you see it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Foxit Reader
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/

Ditto!

 

[Mayayana]

I use Sumatra for most purposes. It's fairly simple.
For more involved functionality I have PDF-XChange
Viewer, which I think was sufggested by someone
here. I haven't used it much, but it seems to do
everything I might want. Both programs, installed,
are in the 10-15 MB range. Whatever you do, avoid
Adobe. That's a slow, bloated mess. Last I saw it was
70 MB just for the download. Probably about 150 MB
on disk. Adobe also likes to impose a browser plugin
for PDFs, which is then targetted by malware.

There are various ways to find the default program.
You can try right-click -> Open with and see what
comes up. (If you don't see Open With... there's a
way to add it for all files, but that's another issue.)

You can also open Control Panel -> folder Options ->
File Types to view info about the file extension.

Third, you can cut out the middleman and just
look in the Registry. Under HKCR find the .pdf key.
The default value there will be the name of another
key. In my case it's "SumatraPDF". The value may
or may not tell you the name of the default program.
Then you look for that key. In my case it's
HKCR\SumatraPDF. If you then look under
\shell\open\command you'll see the path of the program
that opens that file type. (So for me with PDFs it's
in HKCR\SumatraPDF\shell\open\command)

That's how Windows finds the default program.



|I forget, where do I look to see what software is used for various files?
| I'm interested in name of PDF ap. It doesn't show a name when it operates
| and causes me much grief - takes forever to show files and often hangs the
| system. I want to uninstall it.
|
| Anyone have a favorite reliable ap to view and print pdf files? Adobe,
from
| what I've read, seems to have a lot of security holes and other problems.
|
| XP Home if it matters.
|
| TIA
|
| --
| You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
| when something closes the door from the inside.
|
|
|
|
|
|

 

[KenK]

There are various ways to find the default program.
You can try right-click -> Open with and see what
comes up. (If you don't see Open With... there's a
way to add it for all files, but that's another issue.)

You can also open Control Panel -> folder Options ->
File Types to view info about the file extension.

I found that after I posted. I also, later, found that Firefox uses a
different reader, set under Tools > Options > Applications.

The previous set PDF reader I didn't like was evidently Adobe.

 

[GS]

I have acquired just about every kind of PDF software going over the
years, due to authoring of user manuals, ebooks, custom reports, and
app help. Sumatra is my 1st choice reader. I use the portable version
rather than the installed version. I set this as the default reader by
choosing 'Open with...' in WE and setting Sumatra as the program to
'always use' for PDF files. So far this works just fine in
XP/Win7/Win8.1!

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
ClassicVB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

 

[GS]

GS wrote :

I have acquired just about every kind of PDF software going over the years,
due to authoring of user manuals, ebooks, custom reports, and app help.
Sumatra is my 1st choice reader. I use the portable version rather than the
installed version. I set this as the default reader by choosing 'Open
with...' in WE and setting Sumatra as the program to 'always use' for PDF
files. So far this works just fine in XP/Win7/Win8.1!

BTW, the portable version weighs in at 5375kb size-wise! Very
lightweight!!!<bg>

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
ClassicVB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion

 

[Mayayana]

| years, due to authoring of user manuals, ebooks, custom reports, and
| app help. Sumatra is my 1st choice reader. I use the portable version
| rather than the installed version. I set this as the default reader by
| choosing 'Open with...' in WE and setting Sumatra as the program to
| 'always use' for PDF files. So far this works just fine in
| XP/Win7/Win8.1!
|

I've liked it, too. I was using Foxit but then that
became intrusive. I don't remember the problem now.
I think it was nags in the free version. Sumatra is
also open source and I've recompiled it to ignore
restrictions on copying. But Sumatra is very basic.
I also got PDF-XChange Viewer because it includes
various editing options.

 

[Mayayana]

--
-
| Mayayana wrote:
| >> years, due to authoring of user manuals, ebooks, custom reports, and
| >> app help. Sumatra is my 1st choice reader. I use the portable version
| >> rather than the installed version. I set this as the default reader by
| >> choosing 'Open with...' in WE and setting Sumatra as the program to
| >> 'always use' for PDF files. So far this works just fine in
| >> XP/Win7/Win8.1!
| >>
| >
| > I've liked it, too. I was using Foxit but then that
| > became intrusive. I don't remember the problem now.
| > I think it was nags in the free version. Sumatra is
| > also open source and I've recompiled it to ignore
| > restrictions on copying. But Sumatra is very basic.
| > I also got PDF-XChange Viewer because it includes
| > various editing options.
|
| Another solution is to just use an older version of Fox-It or Adobe Reader
| before they mucked it up, which is what typically happens with so many
| programs. I'm still using Adobe Reader 9.
|

About 35 MB, so probably 70 MB on disk. Sumatra
is 10 MB on disk. PDF-XChange Viewer is 15 MB. The
latter provides a variety of editing options, which
Adobe Reader does not. If you're happy with Adobe
Reader you might want to at least make sure you
don't have the plugin running in your browser. That's
a common target of malware. (Also make sure script is
disabled.) Browser plugins never made much sense,
anyway. Adobe started forcing plugins on people in
an attempt to get their PDF format on par with
webpages, but they're not webpages. In the vast majority
of cases if I'm curious about a PDF I'll want a copy,
so there's no justification for the increased risk of having
it open in the browser.

Adobe Reader also won't let you copy from a PDF
marked copy-locked. If I want to read a long PDF
I'll usually convert it to text for better readability.
I can compile Sumatra to do that, regardless of
restrictions set. I think PDF-XChange Viewer will
also do it, though I'm not certain. Adobe Reader
won't bypass restriction settings because that was
Adobe's idea in the first place. It lends a sense
of immutability to business docs, which is what
business people want.

 

[GS]

Mayayana was thinking very hard :

I've liked it, too. I was using Foxit but then that
became intrusive. I don't remember the problem now.
I think it was nags in the free version. Sumatra is
also open source and I've recompiled it to ignore
restrictions on copying. But Sumatra is very basic.
I also got PDF-XChange Viewer because it includes
various editing options.

Ah.., I have Acrobat Pro for editing. Also a few others but I like this
one for ease of use!

BTW, the portable version of Sumatra is only 5.24mb on disk!

--
Garry

Free usenet access at http://www.eternal-september.org
ClassicVB Users Regroup!
comp.lang.basic.visual.misc
microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion