ARRLWeb: Adobe Acrobat Reader Problems

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ARRL Products:
VHF/UHF/Microwave
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Microwave Update 2003 -- 18th Annual Microwave Update 2003. September 25-28, 2003. Everett (Seattle), WA.

ARRL's VHF/UHF Antenna Classics -- Practical designs and construction details from the pages of QST.

Microwave Projects -- Complete designs and ideas for the microwave experimenter: signal sources, transverters, power amplifiers, test equipment and more.

The ARRL UHF/Microwave Experimenter's Manual software -- For use with The ARRL UHF/Microwave Experimenter's Manual.

Microwave Projects 2 -- More innovative projects: transverters and transmitters, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, filters, and more.

Adobe Acrobat Reader Problems

How to Get Adobe Reader

Note: Many of the PDF files used on ARRLWeb will not work with versions of Adobe Reader prior to 6.0 and may cause errors with version 6.

A few users of Windows versions of the Adobe Reader plug-ins for Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Netscape Navigator have reported problems viewing PDF files on-line. (Getting nothing but a blank window or an error during download is a common symptom. Another common symptom is repeated requests for username and password entry for PDFs in the members-only part of the site.) Here are a few notes that may help:

Remember, you must have Adobe Reader version 6.0 or later (7.0 or later recommended).
You can configure recent versions of Adobe Reader to not use the browser plug-in module by unchecking the "Display PDF in browser" check box found under Edit/Preferences/Internet.
You can configure older Acrobat Reader versions to not use the browser plug-in module by unchecking the "Web Browser Integration" check box found under File/Preferences/General.
You can right-click on the link to a PDF file to get a pop-up (floating) menu that includes a command to save the file to disk. By saving the file to your hard disk, then launching Adobe Reader and opening the file, you can avoid using the Web browser plug-in altogether.
The first thing to try if you want to fix a cranky plug-in is to reinstall your copy of Adobe Reader.
Adobe's technical notes discuss how to manually install the plug-ins and how to configure your Web browser to use Acrobat Reader as a "helper" application rather than as a plug-in: