Does anyone still use Adobe Reader? If you do, I feel bad for you! For many months now, I’ve been using the very fast Foxit PDF reader software because it’s only 100 times faster than Adobe Reader! Foxit is a great PDF viewer because it’s not bloated with tons of useless features that no one is ever going to use. Foxit has been a great replacement, but the free version has had some problems that make it slightly annoying to use sometimes.




If you’ve been using Foxit reader for a while, you have probably noticed that it can have some issues when it comes to printing. If you decide to add a sticky note or manually type in text onto a PDF, you get a message stating that an evaluation mark will be placed on the document when you try to print it. You have to purchase the full version if you don’t want to have the marks.

Luckily, there’s another PDF viewer program that I came across called PDF-XChange Viewer that has all of the features and benefits of Foxit, but without any of the restrictions! With this program, you can export text from a PDF document, add content to PDF files, type onto PDF’s, fill and save forms, add sticky notes, and lots more. The best thing is that it’s way faster than Adobe Reader and only a little slower than Foxit. There is a splash screen on this program, but you can disable it from the Preferences.

Another really nice thing about PDF-XChange Viewer is that it has a really nice GUI interface. Foxit looks kind of old (probably why it’s faster), but I found that the nice interface is well worth a half second extra loading time. It also has a grid view whereby you can view all of the open PDF documents in a grid format with thumbnails along with document names.



Some other really nice features of this program are the fact that when you place a sticky note onto a document, you can actually place it over text and the note will become transparent so that you can read the text below the note itself! Also, when you are opening a file, you can see a preview of it to the right of the Open dialog box.

One other feature that I liked about this program is that it has a button whereby you can open the PDF in other PDF reader program directly. So if the PDF-XChange Viewer cannot load the PDF document correctly, you can open it from the other PDF viewers you have installed. Pretty cool.

Finally, PDF-XChange Viewer took a really nice feature from Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox whereby each PDF document that is currently open has it’s own tab at the top left. You can switch between documents by clicking on the different tabs! Nice!



Overall, it’s a great PDF Viewer and has been working well in my tests. I’ve had an issue with the text not showing up correctly in the Sticky Note for some reason. Otherwise, everything has been pretty smooth. Test it out and post a comment on which PDF reader you like the most. Enjoy! Source CyberNetNews

Using PDF files in today’s business world is commonplace.  Many different types of information is exchanged using PDF files types.  Simply creating basic PDF documents is easy enough.  There are a handful of free to use software packagesgiving end users the ability to create PDF file documents.

One of the drawbacks to some of the free software options is the ability to encrypt or password protect the PDF output.  When trading documentation containing items such as intellectual property data, engineering schematics, or other sensitive corporate information, being able to safeguard files becomes a priority.  Unfortunately, there are quite a few people who swear by Adobe Acrobat as the only solution for this type of need.  Fortunately, Adobe is not the only company to have a PDF creation tool, which can digitally protect a document.

NovaPDF Professional (found here) does an excellent job of creating PDF files, and offers the option of encrypting PDF output.  It has a very small footprint on your computer, and offers a wealth of choices when creating a PDF file.  When installed, it simply creates an additional printer type object within the Windows Printers and Faxes group.

Just like other PDF software products, you access NovaPDF when you are going to print a document.  Once you reach the standard printer options screen, you can select NovaPDF from the printer selection drop-down box.  Now you may click on the Properties button on the right-hand side of the screen to access the features of NovaPDF.

Once you are in the Properties area, you will note the wide variety of tabs.  The first tab, Page, gives the user the option of changing the print size (default is Letter), measurement units, orientation, and resolution.  All of the page options are fairly straightforward.  If your document contains images, you may want to look at the Graphics tab.  This tab offers the options to compress images, convert pictures to grayscale, and downsample (resize resolution) images; all in an effort to reduce the overall document size.

Working with graphics is an expectation of most people who create original PDF documentation.  At the very least, the PDF output file should be able to reproduce the images in a viewable format, and NovaPDF has that covered.  In addition to graphics, should you choose to embed the fonts you are working with, there is a menu tab specifically for that option.  Embedding fonts will help the recipients of the PDF file see the text data as the author intended.

Sometimes, a person needs to add a watermark (such as Confidential, For BusinessUse Only, etc.) into a PDF document.  NovaPDF’s watermark tab accomplishes this in short order.  Simply click on New Text, to add wording as a watermark; or click on New Image to browse for a image.  You also are given the ability to add multiple watermarks, should you have the need.

Do you intend to send the PDF in an email after creating it?  Why not pre-assign this task from within NovaPDF’s Properties?  Clicking on the Email tab gives a person the option of Sending via email, as a PDF attachment, and sending as a ZIP attachment.  You can also let NovaPDF know to open your email client, send through your email client, or use a pre-configured SMTP platform.

Now to the security section of this program, located under the Security tab.  For the encryption portion of NovaPDF, you have three options:  None, 40-bit, or 128-bit.  The difference between 40 and 128 bit is what the reader of the PDF file can, and cannot do with the document.  At 40-bit encryption, you can allow, or not allow, them to print, change the PDF contents, or even extract text and images.  The 128-bit encryption offers high level options akin to the 40-bit level as well as restriction high resolution print capabilities.

At the bottom of the Security tab, you have the option of adding passwords to the document.  Doing so will not allow anyone to view the document without knowing the password.  The passwords are broken up into two categories, user and owner.  The user password allows viewing, and rudimentary tasks; where the owner password allows for editing type functionality.

When you have checked off all of the options for this document that you desire, you are ready to print.  Click on Ok at the bottom of any of the tab screens to get back to the default Windows print menu.  After clicking on Print, you are greeted with another short list of choices.

Here you may append the information to another PDF file, or insert the information into another PDF files, but before the other document’s contents.  You can also choose to send the output file via email, open it in your PDF viewer, or both.  Should you be required to use the PDF/A-1b format, you can check its box prior to printing.

With the ability to compress images and encrypt data, NovaPDF is a good choice when it comes to PDF files.