bob gets bloggy

10 Most Annoying Programs

The linked piece from Rupert Goodwins, ZDNet.co.uk is a humorous but all too true look at some ubiquitous and annoying software.

In response, I find these are all true and bothersome enough that I have quietly dealt with most of them in the normal course of using my computer.  Probably most “computer guys” have done something similar but we forget to document the fixes so they can be shared with non-geeks.  I have taken this as a reminder to document at least these ten.

Adobe Reader: I use Foxit Reader by default
(http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php).  It’s light, quick, and stays in the background where it belongs.  I still have Adobe Reader around, but I have it firewalled so it can’t check for updates.  If and when I receive a PDF I can’t read with Foxit, I do try my current version of Adobe.  If that doesn’t work, I’ll manually check for an update.   By this method I’ve been forced to update once in five years.

By the way, allowing PDFs to display in a browser can crash the browser—it’s usually better to right-click on a PDF link and save it to disk first, then open outside the browser.

Subsequent tips will follow — look for the “technobabble” tag.  As always, your comments are welcome.