Ditch the PDF headaches: Three safer, speedier Adobe Reader alternatives - steadmanpilly1987

Other 24-hour interval, another critical security exploit unconcealed for Adobe Reader. Atomic number 67-Movement of Holy Warriors. The PDF software's near-ubiquitous presence has made it a big, juicy, juicy target for years now, and by this point, you shouldn't be request what Adobe's going to do to shore up its perpetually leaky program. Or else, you should ask yourself: Why are you still using Adobe brick Lecturer at all?

Believe IT surgery not, the PDF viewer picture is bristling with a number of alternatives that have far little nefarious attention than Adobe's software. Shift aside from Lecturer won't alone free you from the deadening effort-update-feat-update-exploit tread-wheel, information technology could very well free dormy some of your valuable system resources. Adobe Reader's thusly intense and bloated that straight its most feature-packed competitors look downright slight in comparison.

Without farther ado, Hera's a trio of PCWorld tested—and approved!—PDF readers that can free you from Reader's headaches, no matter whether you're looking for a simple, lightweight PDF viewer or a more robust PDF editing and creation tool.

The contenders

Sumatra PDF. If you just wishing the ability to unenclosed PDFs and don't care about bells and whistles, Sumatra PDF is an excellent prime. The program's bad more than limited to straightforward PDF viewing, but it's lightning-fast and uses rattling few scheme resources.

Foxit Reader. Foxit Lecturer's not quite arsenic bolted or resource-friendly as Sumatra PDF, just it's still incredibly lightweight, and IT packs a a couple of features you won't breakthrough in Sumatra; that is to say, PDF-to-speech functionality, the ability to fill out fields and add textbook to PDFs, and optional integration with the DocuSign service.

Nitro PDF Proofreader. The inalterable PDF reader of the bunch opens files slower than the other two options, but makes up for its moderately pokey performance with a deep feature list—and it's still the like of an Olympic sprinter compared to Adobe brick Reader's downright sluggish speeds. The free variant of Nitro Proofreader can photographic print (register: convert) virtually whatsoever document to a PDF, comes packed with collaboration, creative activity, and editing tools, and lets you embed your signature into any PDF. That's just the baksheesh of the ice berg, and even better, Nitro PDF Reader mopes no a watermark on your documents—a rarity amongst free PDF creation tools.

Don't stop with Reader!

Java is another oftentimes ill-used platform.

Once you've gone up unexpended Adobe brick Referee in the rearview mirror, you can nag another persistent security hole by uninstalling Java (unless, course, you have a compelling reason other than). In that respect's no real alternative available for Adobe Flash— the final troublesome cornerstone in the triumvirate of hackers' deary third-party targets—but the technology has damned some of its luster thanks to the rapid rise of HTML5. Adobe has already pulled the plug on Flash for smartphones and Linux PCs.

Internet Explorer is another frequent target for exploits. Combat that danger by retention Windows Updates set to "Automatic," OR better yet, try an alternative browser like Mozilla's Firefox or Google Chrome.