Adobe Reader is notorious for eating up computer resources.  If you are looking for a free, light and quick PDF reader try Foxit.  We have been using it for a while now and prefer it to Adobe Reader or CutePDF.  Here is what their website has to say about why it works so well:

• Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is just a fraction of Acrobat Reader 20 M size.
• Breezing-fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly without any delay. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names, etc.
• Annotation tool: Have you ever wished to annotate (or comment on) a PDF document when you are reading it? Foxit Reader allows you to draw graphics, highlight text, type text and make notes on a PDF document and then print out or save the annotated document.
• Text converter: You may convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.
• High security and privacy: Foxit Reader highly respects the security and privacy of users and will never connect to the Internet without users’ permission. While other PDF readers often silently connect to the Internet in the background. Foxit PDF Reader does not contain any spyware.

You can try it for free here.  Let us know what you think.

OSX is great when it comes to certain things, PDF’s are one of those things. Not only does the Operating System open up PDF’s by default, But with a simple program you can also fill out PDF’s that have forms. The program is called formulate pro.

All that you need to do is open up the PDF with FormulatePro instead of the default OSX viewer.  You get a small pop up that includes options for check boxes, scribbles, type, and a few more. When you’re done filling out the form, you can export it to PDF, or just hit print in choose OSX’s PDF printer. Did I mention that it is free?

There is another program that is even better, but this one is not free, PDFPen. This however has many more powerful options in which you can actually edit the pdf itself, as opposed to just filling in forms in an overlay.

PDF’s are a great way of exchanging information and making sure that the information looks the same on your computer as a computer a thousand miles away. Leverage that power with one of the apps above!

Need to create PDFs on your computer but don’t want to pay $300+ for Acrobat Professional?  Don’t want to install a 1GB+ software suite just for some simple functionality?  Take a look at CutePDF.

CutePDF is a small (1.5 MB) download, installs quickly and stays out of your way.  If you want to create a PDF simply select File, Print in whatever program you’re using and choose the “CutePDF” printer. That’s it!

The free version doesn’t have the advanced features such as creating interactive forms, digital signing of documents, etc., stuff that most people don’t ever use anyway.  If you do need those features they have a Professional version that is only $49.95, about $250 less than Adobe’s!

Download it today from http://www.cutepdf.com/

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