# New computer blues. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030 "2012-03-17T04:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/1 "2012-03-17T04:00:52Z")
Hopefully there is a simple fix for this. And please don’t suggest another browser. I gave my GF a new computer for her birthday, Windows 7, 1 terrabyte HD, IE9. The only problem she has with the machine and it has me stumped to is PDF files will not open in IE. The guy that built the computer (and my last 3 which have had 0 problems) is out of the country at the moment and won’t be back for a couple weeks. I have tried everything I can find on the web but nothing has worked. Reloaded Adobe Acrobat X a couple times, new .dll files, and more. Microsoft won’t help, it’s a OEM system. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/2 "2012-03-17T04:05:00Z")
Install Chrome instead. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/3 "2012-03-17T04:11:08Z")
Try turning off web view/“display in browser” in Acrobat. Or uninstall Acrobat and install [Foxit](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/). But jjimm’s solution is really the best way to do it, despite your reluctance. Giving her IE for her birthday is like feeding a heroin edition: bad for her, bad for the world. Chrome’s integrated PDF viewing is much more elegant than having two pieces of bloatware (IE and Acrobat) desperately trying to interact through some bizarre IE-only plugin architecture. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/4 "2012-03-17T04:16:19Z")
you could try another brow forget that. download the file and read it using the reader not in the browser. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Niply\_Elder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@The\_Niply\_Elder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Niply_Elder)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/5 "2012-03-17T04:44:19Z")
IE9? I hereby put forth the motion to banish you from the SD for violating its most fundamental bylaw: “fighting ignorance since 1973”. ;D seriously tho, what jjimm said. ---
**Author:** ![XRaeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f14d63/32.png) [@XRaeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XRaeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/6 "2012-03-17T04:49:00Z")
do what johnpost said. if you right click on the link and click “save target as” or something similar you can download it directly to your computer. I’ve always had trouble getting pdfs to work in a browser ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/7 "2012-03-17T05:19:19Z")
Seeing so much IE hate warms my heart 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/8 "2012-03-17T05:24:24Z")
Most likely it’s a plug-in problem. I use Firefox but I even have that configured to automatically download pdfs so I can view them offline. [http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/display-pdfs-internet-explorer-aol.html](http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/display-pdfs-internet-explorer-aol.html) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/9 "2012-03-17T13:07:00Z")
Using Adobe Reader to automatically display PDFs in your browser is one of the best ways to get infected with malware. You should use a different PDF reader, and download before opening. I recommend [PDF XChange Viewer](http://www.tracker-software.com/product/pdf-xchange-viewer) over Foxit (the former has better markup tools), but there are also a lot of other choices these days. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/10 "2012-03-17T13:40:39Z")
> [@XRaeth](#): > > do what johnpost said. > if you right click on the link and click “save target as” or something similar you can download it directly to your computer. > I’ve always had trouble getting pdfs to work in a browser Although I agree that using the reader instead of the plug-in is best, I never understood all the problems people claim to have by using the plug-in. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/11 "2012-03-17T15:08:50Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > Although I agree that using the reader instead of the plug-in is best, I never understood all the problems people claim to have by using the plug-in. if you wander on by a site hosting a malicious PDF, using the browser plug-in could open the file without the user having to do anything. at least disabling the plug in should then cause a dialog box to appear asking whether you want to open or save a PDF, and if you’re paying attention that should set off alarms. ---
**Author:** ![srzss05](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@srzss05](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srzss05)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/12 "2012-03-17T15:14:58Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > if you wander on by a site hosting a malicious PDF, using the browser plug-in could open the file without the user having to do anything. at least disabling the plug in should then cause a dialog box to appear asking whether you want to open or save a PDF, and if you’re paying attention that should set off alarms. I don’t really mean that (though it never happened to me personally either), but what I do mean is people saying that PDFs don’t open properly in the browser when using the plug-in. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/13 "2012-03-17T17:30:03Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > And please don’t suggest another browser. > [@jjimm](#): > > Install Chrome instead. D’oh! :smack: I suppose you could also recommend buying a Mac. Or how about switching to Linux? > [@Reply](#): > > Try turning off web view/“display in browser” in Acrobat. Or uninstall Acrobat and install [Foxit](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/). The last time I tried foxit, it wanted to hijeck my home page and install the [ask.com](http://ask.com) search engine. You could avoid it by doing a custom install, but it was sneaky enough about wanting to install these by default that I basically considered foxit to be malware at that point. I’ve read that newer versions no longer give you the option of avoiding the [ask.com](http://ask.com) toolbar. In my opinion, avoid foxit at all costs. There are better pdf viewers out there that aren’t sneakyware or malware infested. > [@racer72](#): > > I have tried everything I can find on the web but nothing has worked. … Any ideas? What specifically have you tried? Other than re-installing and updating it’s not clear what you’ve done, which makes it harder for us to suggest things for you. Opening pdf’s with ie9 is a known issue. Here’s what adobe had to say about it last year: > [@](#): > > Good day, > > Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 was released after development for Adobe Reader X was complete. While we made every effort to anticipate the way the final release version of IE9 would behave, our PDF viewer plugin is not yet compatible with IE9. This is being worked on by our engineering department. In the interim, when trying to open a PDF file from the browser, save it locally to your computer and open it directly in Adobe Reader. > > Moving forward, please continue to install updates to Adobe Reader X as they become available. When this issue has been resolved, it will be pushed via an update. > > Thank you, > > David > > Acrobat Community Manager > > Adobe Systems From here: [http://forums.adobe.com/thread/833618](http://forums.adobe.com/thread/833618) There are other good suggestions in that thread as well. Have you tried the suggestions here? [http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/runtime-error-roaming-profile-workflows.html](http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/runtime-error-roaming-profile-workflows.html) ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/14 "2012-03-17T17:56:19Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > In my opinion, avoid foxit at all costs. There are better pdf viewers out there that aren’t sneakyware or malware infested. Which non-Adobe, non-Foxit readers would you recommend? Historically, I have not found others to be as robust and quirk-free as Foxit. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/15 "2012-03-17T18:56:20Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > I don’t really mean that (though it never happened to me personally either), but what I do mean is people saying that PDFs don’t open properly in the browser when using the plug-in. It’s a pretty common problem. “Why” is Adobe/Microsoft voodoo. The whole display-document-in-browser-window paradigm never worked very well for any viewer. > [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > D’oh! :smack: > > I suppose you could also recommend buying a Mac. Or how about switching to Linux? Sometimes the best suggestion is the one they least want to hear. > [@](#): > > The last time I tried foxit, it wanted to hijeck my home page and install the [ask.com](http://ask.com) search engine. You could avoid it by doing a custom install, but it was sneaky enough about wanting to install these by default that I basically considered foxit to be malware at that point. What’s a better one? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/16 "2012-03-17T20:36:59Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > What’s a better one? PDF Xchange (see njtt’s link) is pretty good. I use the portable document viewer that comes with Open Office on Linux. I haven’t tried the Windows version so I’m not sure if it’s equally good or not but the Linux version works well. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/17 "2012-03-17T21:15:41Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The last time I tried foxit, it wanted to hijeck my home page and install the [ask.com](http://ask.com) search engine. You could avoid it by doing a custom install, but it was sneaky enough about wanting to install these by default that I basically considered foxit to be malware at that point. > > I’ve read that newer versions no longer give you the option of avoiding the [ask.com](http://ask.com) toolbar. Having installed FoxIt on a few PCs very recently, I can state that this is definitely not true. It does offer to install [Ask.com](http://Ask.com) toolbar or some such, but it definitely gives you the option. I’m not sure about the behavior of the “Express Install” since I _never_ use that to install anything, but the “Custom Install” definitely gives you the option. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/18 "2012-03-17T21:58:15Z")
> [@srzss05](#): > > I don’t really mean that (though it never happened to me personally either), but what I do mean is people saying that PDFs don’t open properly in the browser when using the plug-in. ah. I’ve not seen that either, then. the biggest annoyance was back before plugin isolation, when Reader would crash and take the browser with it. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/19 "2012-03-17T23:10:46Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Having installed FoxIt on a few PCs very recently, I can state that this is definitely not true. It does offer to install [Ask.com](http://Ask.com) toolbar or some such, but it definitely gives you the option. > > I’m not sure about the behavior of the “Express Install” since I _never_ use that to install anything, but the “Custom Install” definitely gives you the option. To be fair, PDF-XChange tries to lumber you with the ASK toolbar too, but you just have to uncheck the box. They may not differ in this regard. I have not actually bothered to experiment with Foxit for quite a long time now, but that is because I have been very happy with PDF XChange, especially the markup tools (which Foxit and the free Adobe viewer did not used to provide at all). I believe I read somewhere that Foxit now has markup tools too, but that it insists on obtrusively watermarking your document if you are using them. PDF XChange does not do that. Also, to my delight, the last time I upgraded my free PDF XChange viewer, it had, without fanfare, added a (very good) OCR capability. This now makes it possible to turn non-searchable (and non-copy-pastable) PDFs into searchable copyable ones. (And no, I have no shares in Tracker Software [makers of PDF XChange].) > [@jz78817](#): > > ah. I’ve not seen that either, then. the biggest annoyance was back before plugin isolation, when Reader would crash and take the browser with it. Yes, I remember when, back in the '90s, PDFs loading in the browser would crash it all the time, and, even if they didn’t, if you were on dialup (as we mostly were, then) an unexpectedly loading PDF could lock things up for ages while it loaded, and while Acrobat Reader lumbered ponderously into action. Those problems are not going arise now for most people, but the Adobe Reader plugin as a conduit for malware is still (or certainly was until quite recently) a very real problem. I say don’t use it. i originally gave it up because of the crashes and the slowness, but I believe I have avoided a lot of malware by not having the plugin enabled. Many times I have seen little PDF files unexpectedly downloading. I am pretty sure they were malware designed to expliot security holes in Adobe Reader. But although they downloaded, they did not casue infections because they never loaded into Reader, as they would have if the plugin had been enabled. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2012, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030/20 "2012-03-18T11:48:28Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Reloaded Adobe Acrobat X a couple times, new .dll files, and more. Did you try uninstalling Acrobat Reader and then rebooting first? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-computer-blues/616030.md?page=2)