Hello.
I'm using adobe reader 9.1 on windows XP SP3.
When I browse through some pdfs (including SR4A and some other books), after a while the text gets currupted into gibberish. Mostly while turning the page down or dragging it down with the hand tool.
I thought this had something to do with memory leaks... but I have no idea if that is even possible.
Anyone knows something about this ?
I didn't find anything on google so I thought i'd ask here. I don't even want to mention Adobe support.

I tried using alternate readers, but their loading times are slower and it's annoying.

Try putting it in another storage device, like a jump drive or second HDD. That should either tell you the data is corrupt, or fix the problem, or maybe something else.

Does it always have that problem in the same place? Are there ways to access the data without it corrupting? If the answers are 'no' and 'yes', try uninstalling and reinstalling adobe, using an alternative reader, or checking your font files.

I get that sometimes, suddenly the page is corrupted. It goes away if I zoom in or out though. I just figure Adobe screwed up reading the OCR data and needs a quick reset.

You may need to dump Adobe REader off your system and reload it. What you speak of happened once to me, and after a dump & reload, it came out just fine.

I also agree with the above reccomendations. Save the file to a thumb-drive with adequate storage space, or if you can, have it transfered to a jump-drive, then burn it to a CD-Rom for offline storage. That way, you have a backup.

Also, look into expanding your systems' hardware memory.

Reinstalling didn't help, and dumping and reloading get seriously annoying after a while.

Well, here are the settings I started using. The problem didn't pop up again so far, so I think the settings were the cause somehow.

Preferences -> Page Display
Resolution -> Use system settings 96pixels/inch
Rendering -> Smooth text for monitor (used to be lcd screen)
Mark only "use local fonts" and "enhance thin lines"
Page Content and Information -> mark only "show large images" and "use logical page numbers"

Goes through the page much faster with no text curroption, so far.

Then save the file to off-line storage and have your back-up.

I would have also told you to check with whomever you downloaded it from and told them your problem. If you used DriveThruRPG, they will help.

Text change to gibberish in real time?
Someone from Hollywood is hacking your computer!

Foxit PDF Reader
This is what I use. Dunno if it will fix your problem but its worth a shot.

Is it just truning to gibberish and you exit out? Sometimes it may take awhile to load, so if you let it sit for a few seconds it could turn to normal. If its turning to gibberish though, that might not be the problem, but it is a pretty big file, so it's possible...

Personally, I'd suggest downlaoding them again if possible, since its possible the file got corrupted somehow, in which case simply using a different reader or transfering the file won't hep very much

It's actually turning to gibberish in real time, as I scroll down the document. Didn't happen since I changed the settings, though.
Gremlins, probably.

What you're seeing is a graphical error in the rendering. Try upgrading your graphics driver to the latest version. Unfortunately with large files Adobe still seems to do this and it is a known feature. Scrolling up and back down again seems to fix it.