PDF stands for Portable Document Format and is the file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993, for document exchange purposes. PDF is used for representing documents in a device-independent and display resolution-independent fixed-layout format.

To read a PDF document, the most widely used program and the one that comes to mind immediately is of course Adobe Acrobat reader (now Adobe Reader). It’s totally free, but look at the gigantic size! 22.3MB for Adobe Reader 8.1! What on earth has Adobe included in this latest version of the program? I don’t know because it scared the hell out of me. I don’t need 22.3MB to read a PDF file… I have alternative PDF readers and they are free too.

Let me present you the world’s smallest PDF viewer/reader, Cool PDF Reader which includes the capability to view, print, and convert PDF files to TXT, BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, and EPS. It is only 655KB… hundreds of times smaller than the fat Adobe reader!

This program is so small that you don’t even need to install it, you just need to download the exe and run it straight away to use it. I tested this program and found that it’s good for reading small and simple PDF files. When your PDF file gets bigger, the program tends to slow down tremendously and becomes sluggish… not sure if this is caused by running the program on Windows Vista though.

Don’t worry, there is another great option which is definitely worth downloading. It’s none other than the Foxit Reader, which currently at version 2 is merely 1.67MB. Takes a few seconds to download on a Streamyx broadband line.

Since the setup package is so small, the installation is a breeze too. It took me less than 5 minutes from download to start using the program. For Adobe Reader, you may need up to 15 minutes to completely download the fat installation file. Talk about time savings…

Foxit Reader is cooler than Cool PDF Reader, and way cooler than Adobe’s. I strongly recommend Foxit Reader. Get it today!