Recommend software to me.

[theweaselking]

I need a PDF reader that doesn't suck.

1. Adobe Reader is terrible, and, like all Adobe products, is full of security holes that are never patched in a timely manner.

2. Foxit Reader used to be pretty good (if annoying - it kept resetting customisations to default on updates) but now inescapably bundles the "Foxit Cloud" malware.

3. SumatraPDF can't handle forms.

4. Don't get me started on the PDF handling of Google Docs.

5.Telling the entire world to stop using PDFs because there are no non-shitty readers is sadly impractical.

Right now I'm using Sumatra because it displays simple PDFs just fine, but I occasionally want some of the more complicated features available in the format and I'd like a reader that handles them without also being complete shit. Anyone got something?

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

GET A MAC

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Making EVERYTHING ELSE suck in the hopes of maybe possibly finding a PDF reader that doesn't is not really a good idea.

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Actually, then everything else will be too awesome for you to handle; scratch that idea.

[harald387.livejournal.com]

I might have clicked 'leave a comment' just for the purpose of saying something like this.

Not because it's good advice, but because trolling the weasel is occasionally funny.

[argonel.livejournal.com]

This will be an unpopular suggestion, but how about adobe reader inside a read only virtual machine. With the sandboxing of a VM and revocation of write privileges the risk of the security holes should be manageable.

[andrewducker]

I tend to read them in Firefox.

Which isn't perfect, but seems to work for 99% of the ones I want to read.

Edit: Never mind. Won't help with forms and suchlike.

[kait-the-great.livejournal.com]

PDF-Xchange Viewer does fillable forms, freestyle notations, etc. Does have bloatware in the installer you need [to tell your clients to] watch for and uncheck and has some branding in the toolbar (Ask.com's search [searches the document] and a small ad space). Some Pro features can be used if a watermark is added to the corners of the document (I found this useful for adding bookmarks to a document I referred to and didn't care how it looked).

The plugin plays nice with Firefox after initial configuration to override / disable / whatever the built-in viewer.

Occasionally I will hit a very "fancy" pdf (one that plays audio, or something) and have to fire up Adobe Reader.

http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer

I've been out of the game but while I was working we recommended this to our users and used it ourselves. I can't vouch for the current install package since I set it up a while ago.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I'll have to take a look.

I don't mind "asks to install ask.com crapware" in an installer. My objection to Foxit is that it *doesn't ask* and installs their shitty information-leaking Foxit Cloud Malware without permission, and reinstalls it without confirmation or permission on any update, including point-release security updates.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

If you figure something out, tell me too. Heck, tell the world. I've tended to default to Foxit as hopefully the least bad option, but I'd love an alternative.