MichaelKazlow has already given some pretty good advice, but let me add to that...
- Equation Editor 3. Your statement that "MS no longer uses their much better Equation 3.0" is only partially true. Microsoft Equation 3.0 is still included with Microsoft Office. It's in Word 2007, which it seems to be the version you're using, as well as Office 2010 and Office 2013 (as well as the installed versions of Office 365 -- not the web apps versions). You get to MSEE3 the same way you did in earlier versions of Office -- Insert > Object.
- Embedding fonts. This is a good idea, but really more necessary for MathType than for Equation Editor. MSEE3 uses the MT Extra font, as does MathType, but MathType's version is much more complete. Thus, some symbols you create with MathType may not appear properly if 1) your recipient does not have the MathType version of MT Extra, or 2) you don't embed the font.
- Saving as PDF. This capability is better in Word 2010 and 2013 than in Word 2007, and embeds fonts by default. It's a Save As option from Word; you don't need Acrobat. Acrobat is better, but expensive. If you don't have Acrobat, and if Word's Save As PDF feature isn't working as well as you'd like, doPDF is a free option that works pretty well.