# "Warning: PDF File." Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 21, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443 "2006-02-21T05:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/1 "2006-02-21T05:39:17Z")
This is the only board I know of where it’s standard to give a warning when linking to a PDF file. Why is this? ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/2 "2006-02-21T06:12:32Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > This is the only board I know of where it’s standard to give a warning when linking to a PDF file. Why is this? 1. Some people don’t have Adobe installed on their computers. 2. It takes a long time to download a PDF on dial up. 3. PDF crashes some peoples browsers. ---
**Author:** ![mrrealtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@mrrealtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrrealtime)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/3 "2006-02-21T07:10:54Z")
All good reasons from HUP, but there is one other annoying one even for those with huge bandwidth and high speed… That Adobe startup screen that comes up when you launch a PDF, even if it is inline in your browser. You can have the fastest commercially available computer and that thing still seems to take forever. It should be noted that the PDF still has to download AFTER that splash screen appears, to add to the annoyance factor. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/4 "2006-02-21T19:59:18Z")
> [@mrrealtime](#): > > All good reasons from HUP, but there is one other annoying one even for those with huge bandwidth and high speed… > > That Adobe startup screen that comes up when you launch a PDF, even if it is inline in your browser. You can have the fastest commercially available computer and that thing still seems to take forever. It should be noted that the PDF still has to download AFTER that splash screen appears, to add to the annoyance factor. When you have Adobe running go to the Edit menu and click Preferences. Then click Startup and untick the ‘Display splash screen’ box. No more splash screen. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/5 "2006-03-15T19:37:03Z")
I found Preferences under the File menu, at least in the Mac version of Adobe Reader. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/6 "2006-03-15T20:35:00Z")
> [@Hup the Fool](#): > > 1. Some people don’t have Adobe installed on their computers. > 2. It takes a long time to download a PDF on dial up. > 3. PDF crashes some peoples browsers. 1. People whose PCs have problems with PDFs sometimes forget to look at the browser status line to check if a linnk goes to a PDF. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/warning-pdf-file-why/345443/7 "2006-03-15T21:15:35Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > 1. People whose PCs have problems with PDFs sometimes forget to look at the browser status line to check if a linnk goes to a PDF. Also, the full URL doesn’t always show up in the status bar.