Many people do not like Adobe PDF Reader because it is extreme overkill for the simple task of reading PDF’s. As a result, said people use an ‘alternate’ PDF viewer (such as Foxit Reader), however if you are looking for the ultimate lightweight PDF reader then you need to check out the open source program Sumatra PDF.

To quote their website:

Why another PDF reader?

Sumatra has a minimalistic design. Simplicity has a higher priority than a lot of features.

It’s small and starts up very fast.

It’s designed for portable use: it’s just one file with no external dependencies so you can run it from external USB drive.

For the minimalist, the benefits are obvious. The only problem you may have is reading PDF’s which have ‘newer’ encodings or were geared specifically towards Adobe Reader (which unfortunately is an assumption some people make).

If you are currently using Sumatra PDF, what are your findings on compatibility?