Adobe Acrobat free replacement...PDF-XChange Viewer...now works with WIN 7 and later.

[uberman]

I use some Adobe products, but I don't like many. I've uninstalled Flash player on all my machines and I live happily without it. Some Adobe updates seem like malware to me. I'm not very fond of Acrobat and I had a great replacement, PDF-XChange Viewer when I used XP; however, it did not work after leaving WIN XP. That bummed me out. I was surfing MajorGeeks and found the name of the program listed with a new version, free: however, they are selling it with extras. I find the older XP version of this program to have superior mouse wheel scrolling, but perhaps I just haven't tweaked it yet. I'm now using PDF-XChange Viewer 2.5.312.0. I do buy a lot of software, but I'm uncertain as to the benefit of buying this. I certainly would never do so if I could only use it on one computer, which means free is better.

Link follows:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/pdf_xchange_viewer.html

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Sumatra PDF is also free, and also reads ebook formats (epub, mobi).
Foxit PDF is also free - and very frequently updated.

 

[uberman]

Sumatra PDF is also free, and also reads ebook formats (epub, mobi).
Foxit PDF is also free - and very frequently updated.

Thanks, I'm aware of these and have tried them both. I've just found PDF-XChange to be more robust. Sumatra was the first replacement that was recommended years ago and it felt cramped. Then I looked for a replacement. When PDF-XChange would not work in after WIN XP, there were a lot of tears shed with its demise. That's how my research panned out, like I said the new program that I recommended doesn't seem to scroll as smoothly as the XP version. Of course, when money comes into it, sometimes free versions have crippleware to persuade people to buy the paid version.

I use my PDF reader for reading lots of ebooks. I really wish the there were lots of choices for e-readers for Windows. I've got ten different PDF readers for Android. I always go for the paid versions to avoid advertising. Its interesting there's so my choices in Android. The point is that I use a PDF reader often.

 

[TheRyuu]

Sumatra PDF is also free, and also reads ebook formats (epub, mobi).
Foxit PDF is also free - and very frequently updated.

Because going from a PDF reader which has a sandbox to one which doesn't would really make me feel a whole lot safer.

Some configuration is required though such as enabled "protected mode" for all files and possibly disabling scripting (javascript?). I'm actually unsure of both of these (more the latter one) but I'm pretty certain that a lot (if not all) of the exploits you read about targetting the Adobe Reader sandbox will not work if it's configured with these stricter settings.

If you really don't want to install anything then just use the built in Chrome pdf reader or pdf.js which comes with Firefox (the former is of course more secure but both limit your attack surface). Windows 8+ also comes with one built in if you just need a basic pdf reader.

 

[Iron Woode]

Because going from a PDF reader which has a sandbox to one which doesn't would really make me feel a whole lot safer.

Some configuration is required though such as enabled "protected mode" for all files and possibly disabling scripting (javascript?). I'm actually unsure of both of these (more the latter one) but I'm pretty certain that a lot (if not all) of the exploits you read about targetting the Adobe Reader sandbox will not work if it's configured with these stricter settings.

If you really don't want to install anything then just use the built in Chrome pdf reader or pdf.js which comes with Firefox (the former is of course more secure but both limit your attack surface). Windows 8+ also comes with one built in if you just need a basic pdf reader.

Foxit runs in secure mode by default.

I have never had a security issue with Foxit since I started using it years ago.

 

[TheRyuu]

Foxit runs in secure mode by default.

I have never had a security issue with Foxit since I started using it years ago.

How does that work? Does it actually implement a sandbox for the reader?

 

[PliotronX]

How does that work? Does it actually implement a sandbox for the reader?

Just a hunch but I am probably wrong, I think it disables download able content maybe? I love Foxit, contiguous with office 2013/365 interface and loads and opens pdfs so much faster than adobe junk.