Mac OS X Power Hound, Second Edition

Chapter 13. Other Applications

Sure, Mac OS X comes with a slew of iApps and utilities. But it wouldn’t be a very impressive operating system if it didn’t also run a world of programs from other companies—Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, and so on. Which it does, of course.

This chapter’s hints help you take full advantage of BBEdit, Microsoft Office, Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, SnapzPro X, and more. Because these tend to be advanced programs, the following tips tend to be for advanced Mac fans.

Acrobat Reader 6

Adobe’s Acrobat Reader 6.0 is the latest version of the ubiquitous free PDF reader, found on seemingly every version of every major operating system. On Mac OS X, Acrobat Reader 6 has some compelling features that make it a worthy opponent to Apple’s own Preview application, including better password support and searches that work on all your PDFs at once (Edit → Search).

Greatly Reduce Acrobat Reader 6 Startup Time

One of the not-so-great things about Acrobat Reader 6, especially when compared to its predecessor, is that it takes about a decade to launch. The delay is due to a series of plug-ins that provide additional features to the program. Each plug-in takes time to load, and not just once—they reload every time you launch. And here’s the kicker: if you simply download PDFs from the Internet, chances are you’ll never need the vast majority of these plug-ins anyway.

To disable individual plug-ins, click once on the Acrobat Reader 6 application in the Finder, select ...