I am having problems opening up Acrobat files. If I click them from the internet or email they will not open. However, if I save them to the C: drive I can then open them up. This is done by opening up the Acrobat Reader, then file-open and point to file. I cannot open the file by double clicking or within a browser. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat reader several times and I am not sure what to do now.
Follow this checklist
If your system has two versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader, uninstall both the versions and then install the latest version and the latest update.
If you have earlier builds, update to 6.0.1 or above. Click Help menu and choose Update. BTW, updating to 6.0.1 also fixes another problem with Reader.
Open Adobe Acrobat Reader and click Edit, Preferences. Choose Internet in the Preferences window. Uncheck Display PDF in browser option and close the dialog.
Repeat the same and this time, enable the Display PDF in browser option.
Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.x has Detect and Repair feature under the Help menu. See if repairing Adobe Reader helps you resolve the problem.
Steps specific to Windows XP Service Pack 2
Open Internet Explorer, Tools menu, Manage Add-ons
In the Manage Add-ons dialog, select Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer
Make sure Adobe Acrobat Control for ActiveX (pdf.ocx) is Enabled. If it's disabled, enable the add-on and restart Internet Explorer.
If the report says that the add-on is disabled, then click the Unblock Add-on button
NOTE: If the specified add-on is Disabled and the Settings section is grayed-out with the message This add-on is managed by your Administrator, you need to enable the Adobe Acrobat ActiveX control in the Group Policy Editor or from the registry. The CLSID for Adobe Acrobat ActiveX Control is as follows:
{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000} and the filename is pdf.ocx.
In case the Adobe Acrobat Control for ActiveX is not listed (even after selecting the option Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer in Manage Add-ons dialog), register the pdf.ocx file using the Regsvr32 command.
Example: regsvr32 "c:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\pdf.ocx"
Change the Path accordingly if Adobe Acrobat reader is installed in a different drive or folder.
TEST
Make sure the .pdf file extension is set to use Acrobat or Reader to open PDF files.
My favorite quote - "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.