Those wily cats at Foxit Software are at it again according to Business Hacks: the free Foxit Reader for Windows hit version 3 and it offers more compelling reasons to dump Adobe Reader. Foxit is far lighter in terms of its footprint and required resources than Adobe’s ubiquitous Reader application. For starters, Foxit Reader 3.0 is a 3.68MB installation package, while Adobe’s latest Reader package is north of 20MB. If you’re not careful, Adobe will default to an installation that includes Adobe AIR and that brings your install download up to 33.5MB. Of course, both product installs will expand since they’re compressed, but having used each product on notebooks and netbooks with minimal memory, I can vouch for Foxit’s "less is more" approach.
Here’s a listing of the main basic and enhanced features for Foxit’s PDF reader:
- Enticing Multimedia Design
Now userscan not only play multimedia in Foxit Reader, but also are empowered toadd, edit or delete multimedia files with the incredible Movie Tool andSound Tool. - Attachment Panel
Lists all the attached files in the PDF document, and provides a numberof common options that helps users manage the attachments, such asopening, deleting and adding description to the attachments. Users canalso change the security settings when opening an attachment in thispanel. - Thumbnail Panel
Shows thumbnail images for each PDF page and allows users to quicklyview relevant portions of a PDF file. Now users can navigate throughPDFs with page thumbnails. - Layout Panel
Lists PDF layers in the document, allows users to control the display of some certain content areas. - Metric Unit Support
Within the preferences dialog box it gives users the option to set theunit of page dimension in either metric system or imperial system. - Auto-scrolling with Middle Mouse Button
In the Hand Tool reading mode, users can perform auto-scrolling byholding the middle mouse button/wheel mouse button down. - Awe-Inspiring Foxit OnDemand Content Management
This new add-on enables users to organize, share and collaborate ondocuments and forms online. Users can upload from Foxit Reader or senddocuments with ease. Advanced features include workflow driven documentsharing, revisions of documents, CollabRoom for group collaboration. - Firefox Support
With Firefox Plugin, users can view and work with PDF files loaded in Foxit Reader with Firefox web browser. - Improved Select Text Tool
Not only used forselecting text, but also enables users to add most types ofannotations, including highlight, strikeout, underline, squiggly,replacement, etc. - Enhanced Print Setup
Supports printing separate pages or a range of pages by entering 1, 3,7-10 or whatever in the Pages text box within the Print dialog box. - Better Annotation Control
Allows users to align and center multiple annotations on PDF pages,including Notes, Drawing Markups and Typewriter Comments. - Advanced Toolbar Control
Completely rearranges the toolbar layout and allows users to easily customize the tools that appear in Foxit Reader. - Better Permission Control
Disables and grays out some UI elements when users are not allowed toperform the corresponding operations on the protected PDF document. - Improved Upgrade Mode
Foxit Updater Preferences dialog box allows the user to configure theupdate settings. Foxit Reader supports the ability to check for updatesautomatically on a weekly or monthly basis. - Improved Popup Note
A popup note turns transparent when it is open but not selected. Userscan also cut, copy or paste text in the new popup note. - Enhanced Shortcut Keys Input
Press F11 to enter or exit the full screen mode. Use keyboard shortcuts to fill PDF forms easily. - Transferrable preferences Settings
Foxit Reader creates an INI file to save user’s preferences settings sothat it can be easily kept and transferred. Users can keep their ownsettings and don’t have to configure them when Foxit Reader is updatedor moved.
Note that this application is for Windows ME on up to and including Vista. It also adds PDF support within Firefox, so you can view PDFs right in the browser. Mac users should take note of PDFKit, a Firefox plug-in that also offers basic PDF viewing in the browser.

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