PDF Readers microsoft versus sumatra

Good morning,
The past few months I've been fooled/had trouble with malware when downloading and even web surfing, so I'm hesitant to download much of anything!

I removed adobe reader from my pc running Windows 7 32 bit and am using Sumatra. (recommended on this forum!) It's been fine.

I have a laptop running Windows 8.1 64 bit. The pdf reader was pre installed, a Microsoft reader. It has more functions, such as to add notes and highlight. When I transfer files between the machines, the highlights and etc do not show up in Sumatra.

So....I found a download for the Microsoft reader for windows 7 on cnet.

http://download.cnet.com/PDF-Reader-for-Windows-7/3000-18497_4-75012479.html

I am unsure if these extra functions will be present in the windows 7 version and, well, if it is safe. Because I've had such bad luck w downloads, again, I'm hesitant.
The info on the Microsoft web site is about the 8.1 version. There is no link on this web site to download the add on, either. I know cnet is reputable, but I'm not feeling particularly confident these days about downloads.

Any thoughts, insights or help as to the safety and functions about the version above would be appreciated. As I said, I'm quite hesitant to download anything, but I like the extras of the microsoft reader in windows 8.1

Thank you,

Sue

Does anyone know about his program, its functions and safety?

 

Many people here at the Forums recommend you DON'T download anything from CNET because they use a downloader which invariably has bundled software, some (if not all) of which you won't want. If there's a direct download or alternate download link you should click on that link to download your software or if you can find it on a place like Tucows or enSoftonic you should use them.

 

Good to know.

Thanks,

Sue

 

P.S....don't mean to bump but the softonic site has an option called "Nitro' which looks as if it has annotation tools.

Has anyone used it?

Thanks,

Sue

 

I just did a test on my laptop running Windows 8.1. I opened a PDF document with the Reader app that came with Windows and highlighted some text and added a note. I saved it and then opened it in Foxit Reader. The highlight and note were visible in Foxit.

NOTE: I believe you need to Save the PDF file with the Windows Reader app after adding highlighting and/or notes. Merely closing the file appears to retain changes only in the Reader app; it does not retain the changes when opened in other PDF readers. To save the changes so that they appear in another PDF reader, you need to execute a Save in the Reader app. To do that, right click; this will display a Save, and Save As, button at the bottom of the screen.

 

Interesting!

I'll try a save in the reader app and see what happens when I open it in sumatra! You are correct. I hadn't saved the doc in the reader and was actually surprised that my highlights were there the next time I opened it, so I figured they'd be there no matter what. (duh)

I assume that you like Foxit reader?

Thank you,

Sue

 

Yes, I like Foxit Reader. It's been my replacement for Adobe Reader on several computers for quite some time. But, to be honest, I haven't tried Sumatra or Nitro. However, if I recall correctly, I have seen favorable comments about them. So, I'm not sure which PDF reader to recommend. Perhaps any of them will display highlights and notes added to a PDF document in the Windows Reader app, assuming the changes were saved as I previously explained.

 

I saved and transferred the file and yes, the highlights did transfer when I opened it in Sumatra.

I like Sumatra, but unfortunately I cannot use it to annotate. I'll look into Foxit Reader.

Thank you, usafveteran and mdonah for your help!

 

Foxit Reader - MajorGeeks
Nitro PDF Reader - MajorGeeks
PDF-XChange Viewer - MajorGeeks

 

Safe downloads ! Thank you!!

What did I do before I found all of you?! (Maybe we shouldn't go there..)

 

Regarding Foxit Reader; it has the nasty habit of installing spyware on user's computers. Has done it since version 1.0, and still did it with version 5.x (the last version I tested).

 

Good to know pwillener!

Maybe I'll just stick w what I've got and forget about being fancy...

Thank you!

 

I've installed it on 4 of my computers and I don't recall any spyware issues arising from the installation of Foxit Reader. I just looked at my notes on the last of those installations, which was on 1/8/14 on a newly built system running Windows 7. Later that day, I ran a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. It found no issues. If you've had the problem you say you've had, then perhaps you're downloading from a bad source.

 

Foxit Reader allows adding comments, i.e. annotations, highlighting, underlining, strikeout, and bookmarking.

 

This was one of the most valuable things I learned from Major Geeks years ago when I first came to MG for help!

 

Possibly: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/

But I have just test-installed the latest version 6.1.2, and the process is now much better than in earlier versions. They now show clearly what they are going to install on the system, and actually let the user uncheck bundled software.

That was not the case in earlier versions. You could uncheck or decline the bundled crapware (Ask toolbar!), but it would install it anyway. Without leaving any uninstaller.

So it seems they have mended their bad ways.