If you want a simple PDF reader that doesnt take 500 years to load like Acrobat get foxit. It works great opens pdf files very fast. I have yet to find something better. Works great with firefox.
It's a hassle to load yet another program to read Adobe files, since I am required to actually make Adobe files with Acrobat for business purposes. Firefox should work better with the PDF downloads.
I've used Speed Up Adobe Reader for a couple of years. It really works to speed up Reader loading time, even in browser plug-ins.
http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/prods/misc/index.php
First item on above web link
I always download PDF-acrobat files to the desktop. Then open them with Adobe Acrobat. Goes a lot faster because Internet Explorer doesn't try to pull it's integration crap
OR EVEN BETTER uncheck the default "display in browser" option in Acrobat preferences. Under "internet"