PDF files are not displayed in your browser

We have experienced some problems with MS Internet Explorer 5.5 and Acrobat Reader 4 in displaying PDF files in that browser. What happens, is that when the Acrobat Reader Internet Explorer plugin loads a PDF file Internet Explorer will announce "Done" but the screen remains blank.

A simple "solution" is to right-click (in Windows MS Internet Explorer) to download the PDF files you are interested in and then view them later by using Acrobat as an application rather than as a plug-in. Alternatively you can try using the Ghostview GhostScript duo - they will display PDF files.

Another "permanent solution" is to disconnect the Acrobat Reader plugin and to configure your Internet Explorer browser to run Acrobat Reader as a helper application rather than as a plugin. To do this first shutdown Internet Explorer. Then start up Acrobat Reader and from the menu bar select

File --> Preferences --> General

and uncheck "Web Browser Integration." Afterwards, the first time you select a PDF file in Internet Explorer you will encounter a dialog box. In the dialog box select "Open this file from its current location," and check "Don't ask me again for files of this type" (or whatever the exact wording is). Next time you access a PDF file in Internet Explorer it will be displayed in a separate Window without any nuisance dialog box opening.

[Original source, possibly not accessible: Bent E. Petersen, http://oregonstate.edu/~peterseb/info/acrobat_problems.html.]