Foxit PDF Reader

Foxit is a FREE PDF Reader that will view any PDF and doesn't insist on eating up your system resources by running processes in the background. I've been using Foxit for years and I've yet to find a PDF that it can't read. It has a pro version that will let you annotate a PDF with either typing or drawing (like signatures), but the free version works great if you just need to view and/or print PDFs. (versions for Windows, Windows Mobile, and Linux)

Sure, Adobe Reader is free, but it insists on running background processes, which eat up system resources. Why have a background process for a PDF Reader?

If you don't like Foxit for some reason, you might also try Sumatra. Sumatra is not only free, but open source as well. I've seen a few PDFs that don't work in it, but it seems to handle 99% of them flawlessly.

Both Foxit and Sumatra come in portable versions, so they won't even require an install if you'd rather not. (Foxit Portable - Sumatra Portable)

Finally, here's a picture of my inspiration for writing this tonight. I found Adobe Reader eating up ram like a pack of wolves on a sheep stud farm...

Yeah, that's 1.35 gigabytes of ram and I didn't even have a PDF open! Maybe I ought to download and install the latest version (9.0) before I abandon Adobe Reader altogether, but it's not like version 8.0 was a beta or something.

Do you have a favorite PDF reader? Please share your vote in the comments.

Now you know,
Garrett Woodroof