Four Tips to Simplify Your Tax Time With Nitro PDF Professional

Did I ever mention that I love Nitro PDF software? Nitro PDF,  at every level (both the freeware version, and the professional version), has established an enviable reputation for excellence: applications are fast, lightweight, and incorporate customizable security controls, including the option to completely disable JavaScript – no small consideration for security conscious users.

I’m hardly alone in my assessment – so, I’ll throw in a couple of comments from readers following my last review of Nitro PDF Reader 2.0 – June 21, 2011.

It is really awesome. Nitro PDF Reader is the one of the best PDF readers in the market. I am quite excited about what ………

At work, I use Adobe but at home, I have been using Foxit. I just downloaded the new Nitro on your advice and as usual, your advice is spot on. I can now say I just switched my default from Foxit to Nitro.

To help ease the frustrating and time-consuming activities of tax-time, Nitro Software has put together four easy-to-follow tips to help streamline your tax filing.  If you find these tips useful – consider sharing them with others who could benefit.  

Future Proof Your Taxes – Tracking down copies of last year’s tax statements or this year’s lost W-2 can be frustrating, and time-consuming. Avoid the inevitable hours spent searching and create an archive of both physical and digital financial records that can be easily searched and opened by anyone using PDF/A – the digital archival standard.

Portable Document Format is lightweight, secure, and universally accepted – it can be opened by anyone from your accountant to the IRS. Future-proof your financials by creating PDF/A files, an entirely self-contained ISO standard designed to ensure long term support and acceptance, completely independent of the originating data or the system it was created on.

Convert almost any WindowsT file format to PDF – from spreadsheets to statements – and use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on scanned paper to create convenient, searchable PDF files that can be accessed for years to come.

Future proof your taxes and create PDF/A compliant archives from over 300 different file formats with Nitro PDF Professional (free 14 day trial).

Fill and Save Tax forms – Just about any government form can be downloaded as a PDF file, and businesses both big and small often utilize forms to gather information from their clients. Active PDF forms are designed to be filled easily and quickly, with many allowing you to submit the completed file with the click of a button.

Form functionality goes even further with the capability to process mathematical calculations automatically; no more time spent trying to work out 8.5% of box B divided by the sum of boxes A, C, and D, raised to the power of E=MC2.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said for paper forms, but you can avoid starting from scratch every time you make a mistake by scanning them to PDF and completing them electronically. Type text anywhere on the page, sign them digitally (if required) and even add them to your PDF/A archive for record-keeping.

Using the free Nitro PDF Reader you can fill in any PDF forms – print them, save them, export their data, and submit them to a web or email destination. Sitting on a stack of paper documentation you’ve been avoiding? Scan them as PDF files and free yourself from clutter today.

Safeguard Your Taxes – Financial information should always be considered highly sensitive and treated accordingly. Whether you need to email a document or use a web-based submission service, security controls form a powerful toolset to protect your information, and should always be on your checklist when preparing your taxes.

Safeguard your private financial data using military-grade 256-bit AES encryption to secure your PDF files with password protection and digital certificates, and specify usage permissions to manage how people interact with your documents and prevent individual activity such as copying, editing, or printing.

Nitro PDF Professional (trial) covers you for encrypting and decrypting tax documents, certifying and signing, managing the public keys of your trusted contacts, and password-protecting PDF files to control access and usage. The free Nitro PDF Reader allows you to add basic password security to PDF files you create.

Combine and Streamline Your Tax Documentation – Many people today receive a pay stub (or pay slip) in PDF format. Regardless of whether you’re paid weekly or monthly, that’s one serious paper trail, and an organizational nightmare come tax time. Simply combine all the pay stubs into one ‘master’ PDF file to avoid hours wasted by you or your accountant trying to work with 52 individual files.

Combining files in Nitro PDF Professional couldn’t be easier, and the resultant PDF comprising all your pay-stubs allows you and your accountant to easily scroll through the entire financial year within the one PDF document – no more piles of invoices, receipts, bank statements, or financial reports.

Interesting factoid: Though over 70% of the taxpaying American population uses e-filing to log their taxes, most people still supplement their electronic submission with hardcopy paper documents (e.g. W2s, pay-stubs, receipts).

Pick Out PDF Text And Reuse It With Free Nitro PDF

As an active blogger, I get a pile of information sent my way from application developers and service providers  – including media reports, product news, reviewers guidelines, and so on – most of which is in PDF format. So my PDF application of choice, Nitro PDF (the free version), gets a real workout around here.

Most often, the material received can be filed away for later retrieval but, there are times when the information needs to be acted upon relatively quickly. And, that might mean I need to “cut and paste” from within a PDF. Constructing a “pull quote”, for inclusion in an article, is a good example.

Accessing content from within a PDF can often be a bit painful though – without the right tool. Sure, a user might have the option of converting a PDF file to a Word file for example (depending on the capabilities of the PDF reader), then working with the contents of the new Word file.

A better way:

Nitro PDF provides a terrific feature in the free version of PDF Reader Version 2 – the ability to copy data directly from within a PDF file, and paste it into a selected application – so, no more converting, saving, opening, and copying, to get to your objective. Nitro’s solution is basically “one click simple”.

The following screen captures illustrate a real world example in which this feature can be used to save time – always a consideration for those of us who have little of it to spare.

Culling data from OPSWAT’s latest quarterly market share report (shown open in Nitro PDF) for inclusion in a new article for later publication, is a snap.

It’s simple a matter of selecting the text to be copied (additional text operatives are available) …

and, pasting the selected text into the appropriate application. In this case, LibreOffice (an outstanding substitute for Microsoft Office, BTW).

If working with PDF files is a task you get involved in, then Nitro PDF is an application you should consider adding to your toolbox.

System requirements: Windows XP, Vista, Win 7 (32 bit  and 64 bit, Vista and Win 7).

Available languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Download at: Nitro PDF Reader

It’s not often that I feel comfortable rating a free application a 10 out of 10 – but, Nitro PDF meets my criteria in every way.

You can read a full review of this terrific free application here – NEW – Nitro PDF Reader Version 2 Launched Today (June 21, 2011).

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Get Ready For School With These 35 Free Computer Apps

Heading back to school? Make your life easier and checkout these free PC applications.

Take a look at the following recommended free downloads that will help you communicate, get those assignments done, have some fun, and manage and protect your system while you’re surfing the Internet.

These applications have riding out the storm of new competitors, and have developed a strong, loyal following, based on their reliability and functionality.

Process those words:

Nitro PDF:

With its ability to not only view and review PDF files, but create PDF files as well, it’s little wonder Nitro PDF Reader has amassed such a large following. I have to say that Nitro PDF Reader is my favorite PDF tool so, I’m more than a little enthusiastic to get on the go with this latest release.

Version 2 continues the strong tradition which Nitro has established with previous version – it’s fast, lightweight, and incorporates customizable security controls, including the option to completely disable JavaScript – no small consideration for security conscious users.

Listen N Write:

Anyone who has to transcribe recorded audio should try Listen N Write, a free tool designed specifically for transcription. Perfect for lectures.

LibreOffice:

LibreOffice is the power-packed free (open source) personal productivity suite for Windows, Macintosh and GNU/Linux, that gives you six feature-rich applications for all your document production and data processing needs: Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base.

AbiWord:

AbiWord is a free light weight word processing program similar to Microsoft Word. It is suitable for a wide variety of word processing tasks.

AbiWord allows you to collaborate with multiple people on one document at the same time. It is tightly integrated with the AbiCollab.net web service, which lets you store documents online, allows easy document sharing with your friends, and performs format conversions on the fly.

WordWeb:

WordWeb is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows that can look up words in almost any program. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

Manipulate and correct your pics – put them online:

FastStone Image Viewer:

This is one of my favorite photo applications, with good reason. It’s not just a viewer, but an image browser, converter, and an editor as well. You’ll find the interface intuitive and very easy to use. This program is loaded with features including, renaming, cropping, color adjustments, lossless JPEG transformation, drop shadow effects, image frames, scanner support, histogram and much more.

IrfanView:

With IrfanView you can fix and enhance digital photos including resizing, cropping, correcting red eye, flipping, and rotating. As well, you can perform a wide variety of image adjustments, including brightness, contrast, and applying special effects such as sharpen and blur. I’ve been using this neat little program (every day) for years, and with each new release it just keeps getting better.

Google Picasa:

A free application that helps you locate and organize all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects with a few simple clicks, and share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web.

Play those tunes:

Audacity:

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It’s available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Definitely the best of breed.

iTunes:

According to Apple, this is the world’s best digital music jukebox. Download music, TV shows, movies, and more.

Winamp:

A multimedia player that supports numerous audio and video formats. It also plays streamed video and audio content. Winamp is designed for people who like to customize, tinker and tweak: offering the widest range of extensions, skins, and services to add to your listening experience.

Watch your fav videos:

Miro:

Miro is a free application designed to be easy to use and to give you an elegant full screen viewing experience. Not only can Miro play virtually any video in HD, including, QuickTime, WMV, MPEG, AVI, and XVID, but on top of that this application, which sports major changes from previous editions, is effectively a media management center.

VLC:

VLC is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols.

Free Video To iPhone Converter:

Convert video files to Apple iPhone MP4 video format. Convert the whole movie or select a partition from the movie to convert (trim video).

iPod Video Converter:

Free iPod Video Converter provides an easy and completed way to convert all popular video formats to iPod video. You can enjoy DVD/VCD and AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, VOB video files in your iPod with few clicks.

Better browsing:

Firefox:

Firefox includes tons of useful features such as tabbed browsing, built-in and customizable search bars, a built-in RSS reader and a huge library of extensions developed by thousand of developers.

Opera:

The fastest browser on Earth – but that’s not all. Use Opera Turbo to double your page-download speed on slow connections. Download Opera now and get more from the Web.

Google Chrome:

A browser that combines a minimal design with new technology designed to improve the user experience. Includes download and documentation.

Web of Trust (WOT):

WOT is a free Internet Browser add-on. WOT tests web sites you are visiting for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams, helping you avoid unsafe web sites.

Cocoon for Firefox:

Protect your privacy and security online with this Firefox add-on, which has on-the-fly e-mail dropboxes and lets you watch Netflix from outside the U.S.

Protect your system:

Immunet Protect – Free Cloud Based Antivirus Application:

Immunet Protect is a lightweight cloud based, community driven, antivirus application, (available in both a free, and a paid version), designed to add a layer of protection while working in partnership with the most popular antimalware solutions.

Microsoft Security Essentials:

Microsoft Security Essentials, which incorporates antivirus, antispyware and rootkit protection, all under one roof, was released by Microsoft as a free  replacement application for the late, and unlamented, Windows Live OneCare.

ThreatFire:

ThreatFire blocks malware (including zero-day threats) by analyzing program behavior, instead of relying only on a signature based database. ThreatFire works together with your signature based security applications, to increase the effectiveness of your total security arsenal.

SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition:

The free version of this award winning program, is used by millions of people worldwide to protect their computers. And why not? SUPERAntiSpyware is well known for its high malware detection rate. A simple, intuitive, and easy to use interface makes SUPERAntiSpyware straightforward to setup, customize, and run, for both less experienced and expert users alike.

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has an excellent reputation (shared by me), as a first class security application, for its ability to identify and remove adware, Trojans, key-loggers, home page hijackers, and other malware threats.

PC Tools Firewall Plus 7:

I’ve been running with PC Tools Firewall since I installed Win 7 and I have been impressed with its performance. It installed easily, set up quickly, and has not caused any conflicts with my machine. The default settings are well thought out, and provide excellent protection for less experience users. Experienced users on the other hand can tinker to their hearts content, customizing and tweaking the application to meet their specific requirements.

Staying in touch:

Windows Live Essentials 2011:

Do more with Windows on your PC with free programs from Microsoft for photos, movies, instant messaging, email, social networking, and more. Get it all in one simple download.

Pidgin:

A multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. Pidgin can work with: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo!, MySpace IM and many more.

Trillian:

A fully featured, stand-alone, chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC.

Skype:

In its basic form, Skype is a free communication package, using proprietary code, which allows users to make free computer to computer calls, including video calls, across the globe. As well, there are a bundle of additional features, that can be purchased at a low cost, which will expand the application’s functionality.

System Tools:

WinPatrol:

You can monitor your startup programs and services, cookies and current tasks. Should you need to, WinPatrol allows you to terminate processes and enable, or disable, startup programs. There are additional features that make WinPatrol a very powerful addition to your security applications.

CCleaner:

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast; normally taking less than a second to run.

Autoruns:

You can configure Autoruns to show additional locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and more. Autoruns goes considerably beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows.

Glary Utilities:

Glary Utilities, a free all-in-one utility, is a terrific collection of system tools and utilities to fix, speed up, maintain and protect your PC. Personal experience with this application for the last 2 years has convinced me that a typical user can really benefit by having this application on their system. With this free program you can tweak, repair, optimize and improve your system’s performance; and its ease of operation makes it ideal for less experienced users.

Revo Uninstaller:

Revo Uninstaller is a superior program to uninstall programs from your computer. This free program with its advanced and fast algorithm scans before, and after you uninstall an application. After the program’s regular uninstaller runs, you can remove additional unnecessary files, folders and registry keys that are usually left over (those “orphaned” registry entries we talked about earlier), on your computer. This feature is a definite plus.

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NEW – Nitro PDF Reader Version 2 Launched Today

Following a year long beta testing period, Nitro PDF Reader Version 2, has hit the bricks with it’s official launching today. As an indication of just how popular this application is – during the beta test period, it was downloaded an astonishing 8 million times.

With its ability to not only view and review PDF files, but create PDF files as well, it’s little wonder Nitro PDF Reader has amassed such a large following. I have to say that Nitro PDF Reader is my favorite PDF tool so, I’m more than a little enthusiastic to get on the go with this latest release.

Version 2 continues the strong tradition which Nitro has established with previous version – it’s fast, lightweight, and incorporates customizable security controls, including the option to completely disable JavaScript – no small consideration for security conscious users.

Sample screens – Click on any screen shot to expand to original size.

Standard screen

Fill in form

Collaboration

Fast facts:

Nitro PDF Reader 2.0 includes the following features and enhancements:

Web Browser Integration – preview PDF files from within Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Internet Explorer

Nitro PDF Creator 2 – all-new PDF creation engine enables users to create PDF files up to 4 times faster, with 50% reduction in file size

Optimized Rendering Engine – draw and display PDF files on-screen faster with crisp rendering of text and graphics

QuickSign– import a scanned image of your handwritten signature to sign and return documents electronically in just seconds

Optional Content Group (OCG) Layers – show and hide content layers within PDF files with support for printing layer views and scripting OCG interaction in form controls

XFA Form Support – fill-in and save static XML Form Architecture (XFA) forms

Hundreds more significant enhancements – updated Ribbon UI, workflow refinements, improved performance, and more

If you really want to be impressed with just how much capability is built into this application, then visit the developer’s feature page.

System requirements: Windows XP, Vista, Win 7 (32 bit  and 64 bit, Vista and Win 7).

Available languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Download at: Nitro PDF Reader

If you’re tired of working with that malware magnet, Adobe Reader – I think you’ll find that PDF Reader 2.0 is the substitute you’ve been searching for. On top of that – how do you beat FREE!

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Nitro PDF Software Advises – PDF Security Blunders You Need To Know

If you’re a serious PDF user, then it’s almost a given that you’re familiar with Nitro PDF Software. Nitro PDF Software is a leading PDF software vendor, and the company behind Nitro PDF Professional. And, for those of us who love free software, Nitro PDF offers the award-winning free Nitro PDF Reader – you can read my take on Nitro PDF Reader here.

If you’re looking for a free PDF creator, Nitro PDF Software has you covered here as well, with its free application –  PrimoPDF – which many consider (including me), to be the best free PDF creator available.

This past week, Nitro PDF Software published a list covering three major PDF security blunders, a recent public example of each, and additionally – the best practices computer users can take to ensure their own digital document security.

Security conscious users will find the following information especially useful.

From Nitro PDF Software (with permission):

Protection, Passwords, and Permissions to Safeguard Confidential Information

Problem & Example: In what might be the only example of a lax approach to document security resulting in the #1 spot on Amazon.com’s best seller list and a subsequent film deal, first-time author Adam Mansbach’s self-proclaimed “children’s book for adults”, Go the #### to Sleep, enjoyed unexpectedly positive consequences when a bootlegged PDF became a viral success story, according to Fast Company.

It’s fair to assume Adam is less than upset right now, but – unfortunately for the rest of us – more common outcomes for similar incidents tend to involve phrases like “identity theft” and “job dismissal.”

Solution: There are a number of ways to mitigate against the risks inherent with electronic distribution, the most simple being password protection – an effective way to reduce the chances of someone other than the intended recipient being able to view the document. Always provide the password separately to the document itself – ideally over the phone or in person – and try to think of something more challenging to guess than “password.”

Did you know you can also set permissions with PDF files? This enables you to specify what a user can actually do with your document. File permissions are an effective way to prevent manipulation or unauthorized sharing – allow or deny big-ticket items like printing or editing, and even block individual actions like copying text or images.

Flatten Documents to Maintain Authenticity and Prevent Manipulation

Problem & Example: The decision to release US President Barack Obama’s birth certificate only fanned the flames of debate when the PDF version made public contained a number of so-called “inconsistencies” – most visibly the presence of layered content, giving the impression the document had been digitally altered. A more realistic conclusion would be the use of optical character recognition (if the certificate had indeed been manipulated, it’s difficult to imagine such a rookie mistake would have been committed.) Read a full story at the National Review.

Solution: The majority of us will never be subject to this kind of public scrutiny, but there are best practices to follow when publishing final form documents that are relevant to almost anyone –layered content in PDF files often holds information relating to the text and images it displays, which often remains after the visual component has been deleted. “Live” text (such as form field data or annotations) is also more easily manipulated.

Certain industry bodies standardize and regulate document practices to safeguard against similar incidents – an example being the legal sector and its usage of the TIFF format, to preserve the integrity and authenticity of legally binding documents after publishing. Most desktop PDF solutions enable you to create image-based PDFs, ensuring that vector objects, text, annotations, and everything else that exists as an independent element is baked into the page as an image.

(Not) Deleting Confidential Information

Problem & Example: Whilst an effective way to redact (or permanently delete) information from physical paper, the “black marker” method happens to be rather ineffective with digital documents, as the British Navy discovered recently when they accidentally revealed information about the security of their nuclear submarines. IT security blog NakedSecurity explains it well, but the highly confidential document was “redacted” by applying a black background to the (black) text intended for removal, allowing anyone to simply copy and paste the text obscured by the black background.

Solution: As we mentioned before, PDF files have multiple layers – what looks like flat paper onscreen is three dimensional underneath. Redaction is a complex and powerful tool that (used properly) enables the complete removal of all content, and not just what you see rendered in front of you. You should never assume that simply deleting text or images guarantees complete removal, and anyone working with confidential documents should possess an understanding of their file structure and processes like redaction.

About Nitro PDF Software

Headquartered in San Francisco, Nitro PDF Software has operations spanning North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Competitively priced, Nitro PDF Professional provides users full control over PDF documents, including commenting, form-filling and authoring, digital signatures, text editing, one-click creation from Microsoft Office and more. Nitro PDF Software products have won multiple “Editors’ Choice” and “Product of the Year” awards and are used by millions of people worldwide, including a significant number of Fortune 500 organizations.

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FOUR Free Alternatives To Adobe Reader Malware Magnet

FLASH – A critical vulnerability (March 14, 2011), exists in Adobe Reader, as well as Flash Player and Acrobat. But don’t worry, Adobe will address this issue during the week of March 21, 2011. (OK, enough sarcasm).

If you’re shaking your head and wondering if you’ve heard this before – you can stop wondering. The date might be different; the vulnerability might be different, but you have heard this before – unfortunately, not once before, but often.

The graphics below (courtesy of Secunia – the developers of Secunia PSI), convincingly illustrate why Adobe Reader is considered one of the most hacked pieces of  software.

Month by Month (so far) in 2011
The “Month by Month” graph below shows the number of issued Secunia advisories affecting Adobe Reader 9.x on a month-by-month basis.

Month by Month in 2010
The “Month by Month” graph below shows the number of issued Secunia advisories affecting Adobe Reader 9.x on a month-by-month basis.

While it’s true that Adobe releases patches and updates to close security holes, they generally appear long after the vulnerabilities have been discovered and used to maximum advantage, by cyber crooks.

If you continue to use Adobe Reader, make sure you install the latest version. Users who continue running older versions of Adobe software (not uncommon), is a major element in cyber crooks successful manipulation of this  application.

Better yet – don’t even consider running Adobe Reader. Instead, choose one of a number of much faster, more streamlined free applications.

Nitro PDF Reader

View, review, and create PDF files without compromise with the free solution PCWorld deemed “the most powerful free PDF reading and creation tool you can find…”

Fast facts:

Create PDF from 300+ file types

Comment, review, and collaborate on PDF files

100% compatibility with Adobe Acrobat and other common solutions

Fill, save, and submit PDF forms

Enable/disable JavaScript and control Web-based interactivity from PDF files

System requirements: Windows XP SP3, Vista SP2, Win 7 (x86 and x64)

Download at: Nitro PDF

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer. Small and fast, with a rich feature set.

Fast facts:

Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 2.1 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader’s 20 M size.

Fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names and so on.

Annotation tool: Have you ever wanted to annotate, or comment on, a PDF document. 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 can convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.

Security and privacy: Foxit Reader doesn’t connect to the Internet without your permission. Other PDF readers often connect to the Internet in the background.

System requirements: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 2000

Download at: Download.com

Cool PDF Reader

This viewer has many the features of Adobe Reader, but unlike Adobe Reader, Cool PDF Reader loads PDF files extremely fast. Conversion from PDF to text and graphics formats is included.

Fast facts:

View and Print PDF

Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, EPS

Extract PDF to TXT

Support PDF files of all versions

Work with 68+ different languages

Zoom in/out and Rotate page displays

Slide show PDF document with full screen

Small in size, only 650KB

System requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2008, 2003, 2000. (32-bit and 64-bit support)

Download at: Download.com

Sumatra PDF Viewer

Sumatra has a minimalistic design, with its simplicity attained at the expense of extensive features. Sumatra takes up little disk space with an installed size of only 1.2MB, whereas Adobe Reader requires 335 MB of available disk space.

Fast facts:

Sumatra PDF is a slim, free, and open-source.

Portable out of the box. Doesn’t write to registry.

Sumatra has a minimalistic design – simplicity has a higher priority than a lot of features.

It’s small and starts up very fast.

Hyperlinks embedded in PDF documents are supported.

Sumatra is multilingual, with 20 community-contributed translations.

System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Download at: Download.com

Additional free PDF applications recommended by readers include:

Nuance PDF Reader

PDF-XChange Viewer

Both Foxit and Sumatra, are also available as portable versions from portableapps.com.

If PDF conversion is one of your considerations, then take a look at the free online conversion services offered by Nitro PDF Software – including Word to PDF, PDF to Word, HTML to PDF, and PDF to Excel.

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PDF Converter PDFZilla Giveaway – Free Until February 5, 2011 – Save $30

The developers of PDFZilla, are giving away a free license (in a limited time giveaway), for their highly regarded PDF Converter. This free offer is set to expire on February 5, 2011.

PDFZilla is a desktop application that quickly converts PDF files into editable MS Word Documents, Rich Text Documents, Plain Text Files, Images, HTML Files, and Shockwave Flash SWF Files.

I ran a single quick test on a 9 page (1 MB) PDF file conversion to a text file, which took under 5 seconds and produced an output file of acceptable quality. Certainly acceptable enough to be able to work with the output easily.

There’s no learning curve involved with  PDFZilla – the GUI is push button simple – as illustrated in the following screen capture.

Fast facts:

Convert PDF to Word – Convert PDF to Word with all text and Graphical data.
Convert PDF to RTF – Convert PDF to Rich Text Files. You can edit all text and graphic by Windows Wordpad.
Convert PDF to TXT – Convert PDF to plain text files. You can edit text by Notepad.
Convert PDF to Images – Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF or TIF files.
Convert PDF to HTML – Convert PDF to HTML files and automatically generate the Index file.
Convert PDF to SWF – Convert PDF to Shockwave Flash Animation files which can be published on websites.
Page Selection – Convert all the pages, or partial pages of PDF file.

Over 20 Languages Supported – Besides English, PDFZilla Also supports German, French, Spanish, Italian and all Unicode Language PDF Files.

Batch Mode – Convert More Than 10,000,000 PDF Files to Word.

System requirements: Windows Me/2000/XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7/NT

To take advantage of this limited time offer go to the Download.com download page. Following installation, register the product with this registration code  – 8061822TWDV6YUK. Simply copy and then paste the license key into the application.

Quick reminder: This offer is good until February 5, 2011.

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Bounce Adobe Reader Malware Magnet – Three Free Alternatives

Without a doubt, Adobe Reader is one of the most hacked pieces of  software – ever. While it’s true that Adobe releases patches and updates to close security holes, they generally appear long after the vulnerabilities have been discovered, and then used to maximum advantage by cyber crooks.

On top of that, this application is the very definition of “bloatware” – slow to load, and packed with features the average user has no interest in.

If you continue to use Adobe Reader, make sure you are using the latest version. Better yet – don’t even consider this program. Instead, choose one of a number of much faster, more streamlined free application such as Foxit Reader, Cool PDF Reader, or Sumatra PDF Viewer.

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a free PDF document viewer and printer. Small and fast, with a rich feature set.

Fast facts:

Incredibly small: The download size of Foxit Reader is only 2.1 M which is a fraction of Acrobat Reader’s 20 M size.

Fast: When you run Foxit Reader, it launches instantly. You are not forced to view an annoying splash window displaying company logo, author names and so on.

Annotation tool: Have you ever wanted to annotate, or comment on, a PDF document. 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 can convert the whole PDF document into a simple text file.

Security and privacy: Foxit Reader doesn’t connect to the Internet without your permission. Other PDF readers often connect to the Internet in the background.

System requirements: Windows 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows 2000

Download at: Download.com

Cool PDF Reader

This viewer has many the features of Adobe Reader, but unlike Adobe Reader, Cool PDF Reader loads PDF files extremely fast. Conversion from PDF to text and graphics formats is included.

Fast facts:

View and Print PDF

Convert PDF to BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, EPS

Extract PDF to TXT

Support PDF files of all versions

Work with 68+ different languages

Zoom in/out and Rotate page displays

Slide show PDF document with full screen

Small in size, only 650KB

System requirements: Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2008, 2003, 2000. (32-bit and 64-bit support)

Download at: Download.com

Sumatra PDF Viewer

Sumatra has a minimalistic design, with its simplicity attained at the expense of extensive features. Sumatra takes up little disk space with an installed size of only 1.2MB, whereas Adobe Reader requires 335 MB of available disk space.

Fast facts:

Sumatra PDF is a slim, free, and open-source.

Portable out of the box. Doesn’t write to registry.

Sumatra has a minimalistic design – simplicity has a higher priority than a lot of features.

It’s small and starts up very fast.

Hyperlinks embedded in PDF documents are supported.

Sumatra is multilingual, with 20 community-contributed translations.

System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista

Download at: Download.com

Checkout yesterday’s post – Using Adobe Reader? – Then Watch This Video Of Your Computer Being Penetrated.

Additional free PDF applications recommended by readers include:

Nuance PDF Reader

PDF-XChange Viewer

Update: Regular reader AE S. advises, that both Foxit and Sumatra, are also available as portable versions from portableapps.com. Thanks AE.

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Other readers mentioned by readers include (check the comments and post here).