Digital version Machinery's Handbook without Adobe?

That's one of the reasons I hate the copy protection that people add to things I pay for. They are constantly giving some excuse for why they shouldn't have to make it work. In this case, it's "just" that you have to use Adobe reader, which isn't terrible, unless Adobe decides to stop letting you have it. Or they decide to stop supporting the 14 year old protection system, or whatever reason might come up. I shouldn't have to run a special version of some particular combination of software to use something I paid for. They shouldn't have to support everything, but a common thing like a newer version of Windows should be required. It's not MY fault they broke what they sold me.

And they wonder why people "pirate" things. pfftttt... Half the time it's exactly this sort of issue. People actually have a license, but can't use it for whatever reason. A normal PDF will work with any reader app. Many newer systems can display them natively without add on software. Mobile devices "just work" with them, etc..

Reference material like MH is excellent to have in digital form. Being able to search keywords is amazingly nice. I can and do read random sections on occasion or just browse the paper copy. But when I need to answer a question, search can be much faster.
 
I should mention that I still had to find the DRM "decoder" to use with Phantom. Adobe requires some plugin to read the book, and I was able to find it for Phantom. I don't remember what it is called now. The manual is still locked down tight, but at least I don't have to use Adobe. It's really irritating because I can only read it on my PC, I can't just open it in my tablet when I'm in the shop.
 
A possible work-around........for people with legal copies that lock you to Adobe bloatware....

Do these "locked" copies have printing restrictions too?

If not, you could install a "PDF printer" that actually creates PDF files from documents.
I have used both "BullZip PDF printer" and "PDFCreator":
Bullzip: http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
PDFCreator: https://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator

Either one intalls a new virtual device in Windows "Devices and Printers", but they don't actually print anything to paper.
Instead, they create PDF files from most applications just by selecting that device as a printer.

Then use Adobe viewer one last time to open the original locked document, and print it to the "PDF printer" device.
This way you may be able to create your own new PDF file without restrictions.
It may break any links in the document, but you should still have full text search capabilities.
For a document that size it would take some time.

They are also great for sharing (read-only) copies of documents with people that do not have the original applications(word, excel, etc.).

-brino
 
In windows 7 after installing adobe open startup manager and un check every thing adobe. Then it won't run in the background. But you can still use it.
 
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