My computer has successively run versions 4 and 5 of Adobe Acrobat Reader without a problem. Recently, when seeking to download a PDF file, I was invited to download version 6 of Acrobat Reader. During the installation of Acrobat 6 a message appeared saying that my operating system (Windows 2000) was not sufficiently up-to-date. So, the installation proceeded to download the necessary updates. Now, whenever I try to download a PDF, I end up with a variant form of Word document (still with a PDF extension) that is simply a mass of code. Acrobat 6 purports to be installed as the Acrobat splash screen appears if I try to open the PDF directly. I have reinstalled Acrobat 6 but this has not improved matters. The same files can be downloaded to, and opened on, my husband’s Compaq Presario 1200 laptop (running Windows Me and Acrobat 4) but, as soon as they are transferred by floppy to the Dell they immediately become the Windows files of code mentioned above.

There are several ways Adobe Acrobat can be installed, so let’s start firstly by doing a fresh install. We will need to uninstall the current Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. Go to the ‘Add/Remove Programs’ control panel and uninstall Acrobat Reader 6. Now, go to www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html, select your language, operating system (it is very important this is correct) and the connection speed. In the ‘Step 2 of 2′ box, tick ‘Do not use Adobe Download Manager’. Adobe Download Manager is an active installer which will download the components of the program. However, I prefer not to use download managers and instead download the whole program package (which will happen if you tick do not use the download manager) as there is less chance of an interruption during the installation process since you have the whole program installer on your local hard drive. Once the download has completed, find the downloaded file and double-click to install. After Acrobat has installed, check whether the problem persists.

If the problem persists, open the Adobe Acrobat Reader application and go to ‘File’ > ‘Open’ and attempt to open a PDF file which resides on your hard drive. If the PDF file does not open correctly, there is a more serious problem, so please contact me again. However, in the more likely event that the PDF opens correctly, then the problem is related to corrupt file associations for PDF files. The PDF files are being opened in another application which does not understand the file format, so it is displaying a screen full of garbage. Close Acrobat Reader then open Windows Explorer and find a PDF file on your hard drive. Double-click on the file to open. Should the PDF file not open correctly, it seems there is a file association problem. In this case, hold down the SHIFT key and right-click on the PDF file. In the context-menu click ‘Open With’¦’. Using the Open With window that appears, click find Acrobat Reader in the list of applications. If Acrobat Reader is not in the list, click ‘Other’¦’ and find the Acrobat Reader executable file. Once you have selected Acrobat Reader, tick ‘Always use this program to open these files’ and click OK. Test that PDF files open correctly in Acrobat Reader when double-clicking on the file. Now you should be able to view PDF files by either double-clicking the file or over the internet through Internet Explorer.