When it comes to opening PDF documents you don't have to resign yourself to the standard Adobe Reader - you can use PDF-Xchange Viewer instead. This small and fast PDF viewer enables you to easily browse through PDF files, add personal comments or notes and export PDF documents to other formats, amongst many more features. And it's free!

If you're looking for PDF utilities, you've got plenty of choice if you want to open and view without paying a fortune. What's not so easy is creating and editing them, a problem that leads lots of users to avoid this handy file format altogether.

Just remember: creating PDFs may not be as easy as creating other types of document, but there are still lots of tools that will help you get the job done!

Creating PDFs is most easily achieved by using a PDF 'printer' like PDFCreator. Once installed, this program appears like another printer on your printer list. You create the document in your usual Windows application and once you are ready to turn it into a PDF, send it to the PDFCreator printer. This tool will convert your document into a portable, professional PDF, while PdfFactory Pro and Bullzip PDF Printer will do the same job.

What if you have a PDF that you'd like to edit or a form you need to fill in? This one's a bit harder, as there are very few free apps that do the job well. Obviously there are master programs designed specifically for the purpose, but unless you have a spare $500, you can kiss that option goodbye.

If you have just one document that you want to modify, the trial versions of programs like PDFill PDF Editor and PDF Suite will do the job. If you need a less limiting - and free - option, PDF-XChange Viewer will give you plenty of editing powers. Also bear in mind that some office suites, such as OpenOffice, have PDF functionality built in.

As a final option, you could give online editors like PDF Hammer and PDFescape a try. Just remember that these tools get mixed reviews and only offer basic editing tools, especially in the case of PDF Hammer.

In view of the fact that Yahoo have announced they've reached a deal to insert adverts into Adobe's PDF reader, I thought I'd give you 5 solid alternatives that you can use. There are many good reasons to not use Adobe Reader anyway, not least that it's terribly bloated with plug-ins and extensions that take an age to load before you actually see the PDF document. This latest announcement will surely mean that things are set to get even slower and so there's never been a better time to try these.

• Foxit Reader - Super lightweight and effective PDF reader

• Perfect PDF Reader - Stylish and easy to use, save your PDFs in text or images

• PDF2Word - Bypass the PDF format completely and read it in Word

• PDF-XChange Viewer - Allows you to read and export PDF files

• Sumatra PDF - Small, fast and lightweight PDF reader

You've probably heard of the campaign to Free Tibet in recent days. But did you also know that today is Document Freedom Day when more than 200 teams from 60 countries around the world are organizing activities to promote Document Freedom and Open Standards. According to the organization:

Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for document liberation. It will be a day of grassroots effort to educate the public about the importance of Free Document Formats and Open Standards in general. Complementary to Software Freedom Day, we aim to have local teams all over the world organizing events on the last Wednesday of March. 2008 is the first year that Document Freedom Day is being called for, and we are looking for people around the world who are willing to join the effort.

If you missed the celebrations in your country, it's still not too late to get into the spirit of things with these excellent open source document creation apps: OpenOffice - If Document Freedom Day had a patron saint, this program would be it

Google Docs - Free and always available anytime, anyplace, anywhere

PDF-XChange Viewer - View and edit PDF documents without touching Adobe software

Portable Scribus - Can't afford Quark or Publisher? This is an excellent free Desktop Publisher OxygenOffice Pro - Basically a fancier version of Open Office with lots of cool enhancements