To Update, or Not to Update

• Sometimes, software updates confuse users. New whistles and bells deemed irresistible by techs in basement software labs often offer little to the user besides a new process to learn. Computers and the software that runs on them are like comfortable shoes, and people hang on to their favorite sneakers forever. Freeware like the Adobe Reader must keep up with the software around it, though, so updates are necessary not just to improve but to remain universally functional.
  
  

Change is Good

• According to Adobe's website, "Adobe Technical Support does not recommend or support having multiple versions of Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed on the same machine." Following this statement is a handy chart telling you just what the result will be when you update to a new version. Paid versions of Acrobat can coexist with older versions of Reader, but it's not recommended or useful.
  
  

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy

• Fortunately, older versions of the free reader are like new versions of the free reader--all you can do is view and print. The program asks little of its users, and when a browser calls upon it to display an archived copy of someone's dissertation on a university website, it works silently and faithfully in the background, provided you loaded the current version when prompted.