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What is the difference between the Portable and stand-alone versions of the PDF XChange Viewer

Knowledge Base Article: KB250 - Created On: Feb 26, 2010 08:01 AM - Last Modified: May 2, 2012 06:23 AM

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Question

What are the differences between the available installation packages for the PDF XChange Viewer.

Answer

We offer a few different packages and at first looking at them all and choosing the correct one might be confusing.

.exe and .zip installer packages:
The .zip and .exe installers are the same file, one being packaged in a zip archive the other being an executable installer (some systems will not allow en executable download, thus the zip archive). This is the recommended package(s) you should use for installing on one or a few machines. This installation file contains all the necessary data to install the application in both 32 and 64 bit Operating Systems (OS) . These installers will auto detect and install the correct architecture (32 or 64 bit) so regardless of your Windows version you will get a native application

.msi installers
The .msi packages or (Microsoft installer package) are there to ease the distribution of our software for system administrators when installing our product on many computers in a large networked environment. As such these should not be used by end users unless you have a very good reason and/or really understand what you are doing.

Please note also that at present the .msi installed version of PDF-XChange Viewer is not able to use "Help --> Check for Updates". This will be changed in the near future.

Portable Version:

And then there is the portable version - it does not need installation, and does not make changes to your computer's registry (a special place where information for all installed applications is stored) so it is as it's name suggests portable and can be "carried" on e.g. a memory stick, and allow you to bring your PDF Viewer with you, wherever you go. All configuration and settings are stored in a file in the same folder as the application.
It is also only available in a 32 bit variant, so can be used as a "workaround" when you have a 64 bit OS and 32 bit scanner drivers - our stand alone product can not recognize or work with those drivers while the portable version should do the trick.