This quick fix, courtesy of DWTIPS, helps speed up the time it takes to open a PDF in Adobe reader. As DWTIPS point out, the reason behind Adobe’s apparent sluggishness lies in its use of unnecessary plug-ins that load every time you use the application to open a PDF. Thankfully, the solution detailed below is relatively painless and will significantly improve load up times to a fraction of what they were before.

• Install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat - you can get it here
• Browse to the plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\plug_ins
• Create a new folder named Optional
• Move all files from the plug_ins folder to Optional, except EWH32.api, print*.api, and Search*.api

More info here.

19 Jun 2006