Foxit Reader

Foxit v.5.02:

• still faster than Adobe Acrobat, but not as quick as it once was
• heavy, laden with useless "Foxit" ads
• Ask search toolbar combined with installation
• theme colors available (I'm not sure how useful this is)
• would suggest to try some other alternative

I was a big fan of the Foxit Reader when it first came out. Since Adobe Acrobat was a bit of a heavier program, it would take forever to load my pdf files and Foxit loaded them much faster.

Over time, Foxit has become slower and bulkier. Initially, the Ask toolbars and the Foxit program promotions didn't bother me so much since I felt the program was still much faster than Adobe. Now, I feel as though Foxit has become more focused on its ad sales than creating benefit for its users.

My current opinion of the program (as of Oct 2011) is neutral, but if Foxit continues to bulk up and become increasing ad-laden, my opinion is surely going to be negative. It still runs faster than Adobe, but it's not the best PDF reader out there as it once advertised.

Additional note:
So far, I've tried a Nitro PDF Reader (and Nitro PDF Professional) and a few others that I didn't like. Nitro PDF Reader has a very sleek appearance, but it crashes often when you try to use the pdf writer/printer. (It may be just my computers.) I like Nitro PDF Professional, but I've used it past the trial date and I'm not willing to pay for it.

For a comparison, I like Nitro PDF Reader (and the preferable Nitro PDF Professional) more than Foxit, but I feel as though there's a better and free alternative out there.

Moving onto Sumatra PDF. Hopefully, it's the right lightweight PDF reader I'm looking for.

I've had it with this program. It used to be a great alternative to Adobe Reader but now it seems like it's just as bloated and maybe even more spammy. Just like a text reader or image viewer, I don't want to be bugged by my PDF reader every other day to download some other software that I don't need or be tricked into installing it during an update.

Do the job, but since some times, Foxit forces (or lures) you to install extra app (ex, architect).
And if you don't, you keep being spammed by a popup-box in your windows desktop.

So for me, this is the end.

For my rating:
-For the job, 5 stars
-But because of those inconveniences, 3 stars.

For information, for the free version, ads are quite minimal, so acceptable thought (no influence in rating)

FOXIT 8.1

This used to be my default ADOBE replacement, as it reads encrypted PDF's, which none of the others do.
Though not as fast as sumatra pdf or some of the others, its is a stable all-rounder.
Lately, however the download is now 50MB (it started with less than 10).
Foxit have also lately been slow to do security updates. (browse a site like the register and see)
I would suggest blocking this app in your firewall, too much data is flowing up and down lately.
Even the installer phones home! Version 8.1 has become just as intrusive as Adobe DC.
Installation requires that you turn off cloud reading extras tab.

The only reason I still use it is for the encryption part. IF you do not require encryption, or annotation, I suggest using one of the lightweight open source PDF viewers below.

The UI is nice and the functionality pleasant.

Because the app has started spying on me, I cannot recommend this to anyone, unless run in a sandbox or network access blocked.

They've added small blinking ads in upper right corner and the Foxit Cloud is set on by default.