The Adobe Acrobat Reader seem to be getting bigger and slower these days. So I decided to look for a decent alternative software for my PDF reading. As a matter of fact, there are many free software to fill in the space.
I decided to give Foxit Reader a try. But before making the switch, I wanted to do some benchmark first. My main criteria is the memory foot print.
Comparison 1: Right after opening up the software.
Adobe Reader used 89.1 MB while Foxit Reader used only 37.6MB (difference -51.5MB).
Comparison 2: After opened a first file (11.3MB)
Adobe Reader used 154.7.1 MB while Foxit Reader used only 61.1MB (difference -93.0MB).
Comparison 3: After opened a second file (92.3MB)
Adobe Reader used 225.1 MB while Foxit Reader used only 98.1MB (difference -127.0MB).
Other Comparisons
Other than the memory footprint, I found two features of the Foxit Reader very handy: first of all, it uses multiple TAB when more than one files are opened. It saves some mouse click in crowded desktop space. Secondly, it restores the reading of previously opened file by default. To be fair, the Adobe Reader can also do that by changing the settings (as shown below).
Overall, the first impression of the Foxit Reader is pretty good. I am going to use it as the default PDF reader now.
Not to mention that Adobe fills your desktop with bloatware that Foxit doesn’t.