Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

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Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

posted @ Sunday, May 03, 2009 7:32 PM | 16 Comments

Public service announcement – if you don’t use my Foxit PDF Previewer, please move along…there is nothing to see here :-).

When Windows 7 Beta came out (build 7000), there was indeed a confirmed issue where the Foxit PDF Previewer would not work at all on 64-bit versions. There were no install warnings, it just wouldn’t work. It turns out this was a Windows 7 beta bug for 64-bit (some COM registering stuff if you care to know). This was found immediately and was fixed in later Windows 7 builds (I confirmed internally with the team and had been testing daily builds).

NOTE: This issue should have only affected 64-bit versions of Windows 7 beta. 32-bit versions were reporting unaffected.

If you will be testing out the Windows 7 Release Candidate for 64-bit, I can assure you that Foxit PDF Previewer will run fine on that build (I’m running it now). If you choose to install the release candidate on top of the beta, you may run into issues where it thinks it still isn’t working. I recommend if you are going to go this route, uninstall the PDF Previewer and then run the install again. This will correct the registering of the software correctly.

I hope this helps! The download link for the Foxit PDF Preview handler is the same as the Vista one located here.

tags: foxit, pdf, preview handler, previewer, windows 7, win7, x64, 64-bit

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution By license.

Comments

Igal

5/4/2009 6:11 PM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

oh, i remember reporting about this issue.
list Foxit build work just fine now on the RC 64-bit.
Ben Hayat

5/5/2009 6:39 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Hi;

[OT] I was wondering if you could give a brief blog about what [technical] advantages Win7 brings us (beside the look & feel) compared to Vista. The same thing for vista. Or is there somewhere that has info so we can encourage users to move on to Win7?

Secondly, Does Win7 have built in .Net 4.x in already?
Thanks!
timheuer

5/5/2009 9:02 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Hey Ben, I consider myself a user of an operating system, so I just consider what it does for me. Sure there is some updated eye candy (which I'm still getting used to, to be honest -- I was fine with how the start bar was already). Generally to me, it feels 'snappier' -- I know hard to technically measure, but on my same machine, if feels more responsive than Vista had been. That being said, I never had problems with Vista, so I can't complain. Two blogs I'd recommend for Win7 information are the Win7 Team Blog: windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/default.aspx and the Engineering blog which is full of deep information http://blogs.msdn.com/e7.

Regarding .NET 4, no it does not as .NET 4 is as well in CTP form only at this point. Win7 will only include release versions of framework elements as of now.
Ben Hayat

5/5/2009 9:39 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Thanks Tim;
One particular [annoying] area about Vista has been in the 64bit mode, where I've seen many software or installations do not run properly. And I'm not even sure that is to blame the OS or the application, but in any event, you have a new computer with Vista64 and you run into walls.
So, I'm wondering is Win7 64 any better in this regard or should we stay with 32bit? It's ashamed not be able to use all the new CPU and memory power but not being able to run 64.
timheuer

5/5/2009 9:47 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

I've been 64-bit on Vista/Win7 for a year. I wouldn't go back. It seems to be more stable. I've not had app install problems at all but I don't use a lot of non-mainstream apps. My wife picked up a retail Dell at Best Buy this past year that was Vista 64-bit and has had no problems. She is a photographer and runs all the Adobe suite of tools and has had no issues. Benefit of 64-bit (if your processor allows it) is that you can maximize your RAM. My wife's machine has 6GB. My laptop has 4GB, but it only sees 3GB still because I have an older processor :-(

I'd go 64-bit.
Ben Hayat

5/5/2009 9:52 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Thanks Tim;
I need to get some advice from your wife about selecting among three DSLR cameras I'm considering.

Thanks again for straight answers!
..Ben
Beautiful WALLPAPER THEMES

5/6/2009 6:59 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Windows 7 is looking great. I never buy a new OS when it releases, I upgrade when it comes pre-installed on a new PC, but I think Windows 7 will be a first.
jakirsch

5/14/2009 7:19 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

I am running a clean install of Win 7 RC 64 and can't get the previewer to work - any ideas? No errors, just doesn't do anything... thx
timheuer

5/14/2009 9:15 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

jakirsch -- i'm assuming you have office 2007 installed as well? You should see the previewer option when you click on an attachment within an email and enable the previewer.
Narendra Varma

9/3/2009 7:39 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Hi Tim, I'm running Windows 7 RC 64-bit (clean install), I just installed your preview handler and it works great in Outlook 2007 when previewing PDF email attachments. However, I cannot get it to work in Windows Explorer. Is this not supported on 64-bit Win 7? It works great on Vista 32-bit... Thanks!
timheuer

9/3/2009 8:45 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Narendra - it works on Win7x64. I just tested it and verified. There were some issues in the Win7 builds with preview handlers. Wait for the Win7 release.
Jose

12/28/2009 9:31 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Foxit reader vs 3, crashes my win 7 64bits RTM, frequently. I unsistalled it and system is now stable.
Impossible to use
Hitdelisi

2/3/2010 4:10 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

thank you for this useful post
Bob

2/21/2010 3:37 PM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

I love the Foxit Preview Handler on our Vista machines. But I just installed it on a Windows 7 32 bit machine with 4 gigs of ram and in Windows Explorer, I can preview the first few PDFs just fine in the preview pane. It is fast as it is in Vista but then it slows down significantly after I preview 4 or 5 PDFs. It will just sit there showing the last PDF I clicked on. If I click on yet another PDF it will still show the old one. About 20-30 seconds later it then shows the current PDF I have selected. Then it is slow like this until I start a new session of Windows Explorer. Any ideas?
Chas

2/26/2010 7:51 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Not sure if you have even tested this yet, but I have a system running Win 7 Ent x64 and Office 2010 Beta x64. The previewer works fine in Windows Explorer but it does not work in Outlook. I get this message: "This file cannot be previewed because there is no previewer installed for it."
If you got any ideas on what might be the cause, i would be grateful.
timheuer

2/26/2010 7:55 AM | # re: Windows 7 and Foxit PDF Previewer

Chas -- this is a known issue with Office 2010 Beta for 64-bit. It has since been fixed in later Office releases. For a temporary fix see: timheuer.com/.../...viewer-and-outlook-64-bit.aspx