Speeding Up Adobe Acrobat Reader

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/prods/misc/index.php' target='_blank'>http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/prod.../misc/index.php</a><br /><br /></div>Almost every computer user has Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, but with each version it's getting slower and slower to load. This free software helps with that:<br /><br /><i>"Adobe Reader SpeedUp is a simple application that was created to help make the loading time of Adobe's Acrobat/Reader software bearable for everyday use. AR SpeedUp only needs to be used once (a process taking only a few seconds) and then your 'Reader will be transformed forever. There are also some tweaking options available. "w00t!", as the young kids say."</i><br /><br />The difference is truly dramatic - it went from taking eight seconds to load on my computer to only taking two seconds.

[Jonathan1]

Actually we just recently upgraded a BU at my company to Acrobat 6 and after having a ton of problems we ended up downgrading them to AB5 which is, IMHO, drastically better.
Even Acrobat Reader 6 sucks. I actually went back to 5 after seeing how slow the search function is. I hit ctrl-f and it takes 3-5 seconds to open up the search pane. I'm somewhat envious of Mac users who have native PDF support in the OS. I just DO NOT like Adobe's latest offering. :?

[Paragon]

Wow! What a difference. I just gained about 5 minutes a day that was previously wasted while I sat and looked blankly at my monitor and mumbled under my breath waiting for Acrobat Reader to open........thanks!

Dave

[dh]

That is just great. Thanks :D
I've been using PDF files a lot more since I no longer have Repligo so this is perfect timing.

[KC]

Its Great. Now all we need is for Adobe to get off their duffs and release a Reader for WM2003!?!

[OSUKid7]

8) w00t :hippy:

[Kati Compton]

Any idea what it does? Does it disable some slow functions? Or pre-load part of the program on boot?

[butch]

Any idea what it does? Does it disable some slow functions? Or pre-load part of the program on boot?

In fact the program Jason recommanded only did that trick (http://sastools.com/b2/post/79394202) for you...

[Zack Mahdavi]

Awesome! Thanks Jason.

[ctmagnus]

Any idea what it does? Does it disable some slow functions? Or pre-load part of the program on boot?

In fact the program Jason recommanded only did that trick (http://sastools.com/b2/post/79394202) for you...

Actually, the first one she said.

And, afaict, the program doesn't have to stay on your harddrive. You can run it to set the speedup then delete it.

[portus]

Any idea what it does? Does it disable some slow functions? Or pre-load part of the program on boot?

In fact the program Jason recommanded only did that trick (http://sastools.com/b2/post/79394202) for you...

That trick effectively disables all plug-ins being loaded so you'll lose some functionality. But for general end-user activities, this does not matter. You may want to leave the eBook.api plug-in in place if you do read Acrobat eBooks.

BTW, Apple's MacOS X implementation of PDF may seem appealing but it's not really what it looks so you don't have to envy Mac users. Here's a link that compares the two kinds of implementation in a concise manner: http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/info/MacOSX.htm

Also, someone mentioned Reader for Pocket PC. The current version of Acrobat Reader 1.0 already runs fine on WM2003. I'm sure an update will be available soon after WM2003SE is released.

[Kacey Green]

Any idea what it does? Does it disable some slow functions? Or pre-load part of the program on boot?

In fact the program Jason recommanded only did that trick (http://sastools.com/b2/post/79394202) for you...

That trick effectively disables all plug-ins being loaded so you'll lose some functionality. But for general end-user activities, this does not matter. You may want to leave the eBook.api plug-in in place if you do read Acrobat eBooks.

BTW, Apple's MacOS X implementation of PDF may seem appealing but it's not really what it looks so you don't have to envy Mac users. Here's a link that compares the two kinds of implementation in a concise manner: http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/info/MacOSX.htm

Also, someone mentioned Reader for Pocket PC. The current version of Acrobat Reader 1.0 already runs fine on WM2003. I'm sure an update will be available soon after WM2003SE is released.

you don't loose anything it just moves them to the "optional folder"

ADOBE READER SPEED-UP V1.21
===========================
Author : Joseph Cox
Website : http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk
Forum : http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/forum
Released: 28th April, 2004.

PREFACE
-------
Thanks to everyone that has donated so far; you don't
truly know how much it helps - thanks again!

Notice: Since v1.20, ARSU stores unused plugins in the
Optional folder of Acrobat/Reader. This means that
when a PDF is viewed and Acrobat/Reader requires a
plugin for full functionality, it'll be loaded for
that particular PDF only.

Important: If you used v1.16 or lower and immediately
upgraded to this version, then you absolutely have to
perform a Restore Original Configuration using v1.16
before using this version. If you don't, then you will
certainly run in to Speed-Up/Restore problems.

[Brad Adrian]

That trick effectively disables all plug-ins being loaded so you'll lose some functionality.
So, what do you have to do when you need those plug-ins back? Is there an "uninstall" (or would that be "reinstall") function?

[lapchinj]

The difference is truly dramatic - it went from taking eight seconds to load on my computer to only taking two seconds.

:shocked!: :shocked!: :shocked!: WOW :shocked!: :shocked!: :shocked!:

He mentioned that the splash screen can also be disabled in version 6 but the Reader loads so fast you really don't even have a chance anymore to even see the splash screen anymore let alone read what's loading on the status bar.

Jeff-

[jt3]

So, what do you have to do when you need those plug-ins back? Is there an "uninstall" (or would that be "reinstall") function?

By moving the plug-ins to the "Optional" folder, they are still available to AR. They simply load when needed, instead of preloading on startup. Why load dozens of plug-ins that you'll never use if you don't have to?

[Mimibali]

In fact, as many have already posted, the simplest way to reduce the loading time of Acrobat is to remove the plugins from the folder.

IMHO I would not remove all of them.

On my machine, I created a new folder (called disabled plugins) and moved the full content of the plugins folders there except the API files EWH32, printme and search.

And now...whoppa! Fassssst!!

[jt3]

In fact, as many have already posted, the simplest way to reduce the loading time of Acrobat is to remove the plugins from the folder. ... On my machine, I created a new folder (called disabled plugins) and moved the full content of the plugins folders there except the API files EWH32, printme and search.

The problem with THAT approach is that you could lose some functionality within AR, since the plugins would not be available when needed. By simply changing the name of your "Disabled Plugins" directory to "Optional", the plugins ARE still available to AR, giving you all the benefits of removing them, with none of the drawbacks. Keep in mind that this name wasn't chosen arbitrarily. "Optional" is the name of the folder in which AR looks for plug_ins that it will load "on demand" as opposed to during the initial startup.

You did point out one good thing though... those three files you listed (EWH32.API, PRINTME.API, and SEARCH.API) should stay put in the plug_ins folder. Everything else in that folder, including subdirectories, should be moved to the "Optional" sibling folder.

[portus]

So, what do you have to do when you need those plug-ins back? Is there an "uninstall" (or would that be "reinstall") function?

By moving the plug-ins to the "Optional" folder, they are still available to AR. They simply load when needed, instead of preloading on startup. Why load dozens of plug-ins that you'll never use if you don't have to?

This is not true. The current plug-in architecture requires plug-in to handshake and register at load time. On-demand plug-in loading is not available as of 6.0.

[Kacey Green]

friggin' sweet, on my PIII 500 under full load with xp pro sp1 and vairius other programs running it took 8 seconds to load :D

It used to take 3 min under no load.

[dean_shan]

BTW, Apple's MacOS X implementation of PDF may seem appealing but it's not really what it looks so you don't have to envy Mac users. Here's a link that compares the two kinds of implementation in a concise manner: http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/info/MacOSX.htm

Hey I like the way they do it. Preview (Apple's jpg/png/gif/pdf viewer) loads really fast. Acrobat for Mac is painfully slow.

[Mimibali]

By simply changing the name of your "Disabled Plugins" directory to "Optional", the plugins ARE still available to AR, giving you all the benefits of removing them, with none of the drawbacks. Keep in mind that this name wasn't chosen arbitrarily. "Optional" is the name of the folder in which AR looks for plug_ins that it will load "on demand" as opposed to during the initial startup.

Thanks for pointing that out. Good to know! :)

[Andrew]

One other thing with Acrobat, this is true for versions 5 and 6, the first time you open and then close it, acrord32.exe stays resident in memory and takes up about 30mb. Over time this will start growing slightly and can end up taking most of the memory you have free. If you go into task manager, and kill the process, you get the memory back.
An interesting thing here though is that after killing this process, if you open acrobat, and then close it again afterwards, the process no longer stays resident in memory.

Ive had this happen to me on any windows box Ive used so far, regardless of whether its win 2000 or win xp and regardless of whether its acro 5 or acro 6.

Id be interested to hear if any of you have the same experiences? Especially after running the program that Jason supplied - maybe it resolves this too?

Andrew

[KAMware]

One other thing with Acrobat, this is true for versions 5 and 6, the first time you open and then close it, acrord32.exe stays resident in memory and takes up about 30mb.

This is not the case on my machine. It does not stay in memory. I searched on this in Google and there are other people out there that are having this problem and fixing it. You may want to search on acrord32.exe and find out if any of their fixes help you with this problem.

:)

[Kevin Remhof]

Its Great. Now all we need is for Adobe to get off their duffs and release a Reader for WM2003!?!

There is a version for Pocket PC. I'm running it on my iPAQ 1945 which has WM2003. It works great. Just go to the Acrobat (http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/) site and pick "Pocket PC" as the platform.

[Marcel_Proust]

Yeah, but it's the same old crappy 1.0 version for Pocket PC for a few years now. Minimal features.
I tend to use Ansyr's Primer, more features, but rather slow, and also, few updates and no improvement in speed. Also, it was very crazy pricey.
PDF support is not great on the Pocket PC.
I've been finding PDF though even more useful on my E800. With VGA, you don't have to depend on the reflow feature, which tends to be unreliable.
Meanwhile as the pocket pc world expands, version 1.0 of reader languishes.

[bjornkeizers]

wow! Excellent tip!

It cut my load times by a factor of four!

[Janak Parekh]

Yeah, but it's the same old crappy 1.0 version for Pocket PC for a few years now. Minimal features.
I tend to use Ansyr's Primer, more features, but rather slow, and also, few updates and no improvement in speed. Also, it was very crazy pricey.
PDF support is not great on the Pocket PC.
Use RepliGo (www.cerience.com) instead. You can trivially convert PDFs to RGO files on the desktop, and they're amazingly fast -- I'd say about 10 times faster than Acrobat Reader 1.0 for Pocket PC. And it works fine in VGA too. :D (The full version isn't free, though.)

--janak

[hotweiss]

Wow, what a great app.

[dh]

Yeah, but it's the same old crappy 1.0 version for Pocket PC for a few years now. Minimal features.
I tend to use Ansyr's Primer, more features, but rather slow, and also, few updates and no improvement in speed. Also, it was very crazy pricey.
PDF support is not great on the Pocket PC.
Use RepliGo (www.cerience.com) instead. You can trivially convert PDFs to RGO files on the desktop, and they're amazingly fast -- I'd say about 10 times faster than Acrobat Reader 1.0 for Pocket PC. And it works fine in VGA too. :D (The full version isn't free, though.)
--janak
Yep, Repligo is much much better than Acrobat. There isn't a Zaurus version though so I'm personally stuck. We do have a good PDF viewer though, better than the Adobe one on the PPC.

[portus]

To be *really* flexible without messing with the plugin files, try holding down the 'shift' key while you load Acrobat Reader...

[qgman]

To be *really* flexible without messing with the plugin files, try holding down the 'shift' key while you load Acrobat Reader...

Wow! Why isn't that feature better documented?

[OSUKid7]

To be *really* flexible without messing with the plugin files, try holding down the 'shift' key while you load Acrobat Reader...

Wow! Why isn't that feature better documented?
What's it do? I tried it, but I already installed the SpeedUp program.

[Ed Hansberry]

What's it do? I tried it, but I already installed the SpeedUp program.
I suspect the same thing Windows does when you hold the SHIFT key after logging in. Nothing in your START UP folder launches.

[tanalasta]

Any way to speed up adobe photoshop/imageready as well? It takes forever to load - and all I want to do is look at an image. I'm seriously thinking of uninstalling it and/or going back to the default windows image viewer.

I'll try the "shift" tip! The number of times I've had adobe reader 6.0 almost hang my machine whilst trying to read a journal article is staggering. Especially if I'm trying to open a .pdf directly from a web-site.

[Zack Mahdavi]

BTW, Apple's MacOS X implementation of PDF may seem appealing but it's not really what it looks so you don't have to envy Mac users. Here's a link that compares the two kinds of implementation in a concise manner: http://www.prepressure.com/pdf/info/MacOSX.htm

Hey I like the way they do it. Preview (Apple's jpg/png/gif/pdf viewer) loads really fast. Acrobat for Mac is painfully slow.

Not painfully slow... excruciatingly slow! Seriously, Acrobat Reader 6 for the Mac takes nearly 30 seconds longer to load than Acrobat Reader 5 for the Mac. It makes you wonder whether the Adobe designers actually use the product. :roll:

[brntcrsp]

OT

Any way to speed up adobe photoshop/imageready as well? It takes forever to load - and all I want to do is look at an image. I'm seriously thinking of uninstalling it and/or going back to the default windows image viewer.

Photoshop should be used for editing, not viewing. It's a serious work horse meant for serious image editing. Having it pop up just to look at a pretty picture defeats the purpose. I would recommend setting the Open action to be either the default image viewer, or trying out vjpeg (http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5349&highlight=vjpeg) , for viewing and set Photoshop to be the default for editing.

[Kacey Green]

of course they don't or that product would be waaay more flexible and quicker to load, and even the reader version would have some features

edit: I forgot eaiser to use

[Kacey Green]

also OT, I found vjpeg to be a little un-intutitive, and it change the icons for many of my graphic files grrr :evil: