I found a work around. It requires Foxit Reader, which is free.
Option 1: If you can't open a (.pdf) file in Internet Explorer because it insists on using Adobe Reader which fails on your computer for whatever reason, sometimes you can right click on the link itself and select “Save Target As” which will save the (.pdf) to your hard drive and then you can open it with Foxit Reader. If the file that it tries to save is something other than a (.pdf) such as an (.htm) then try option 2 below.
Option 2: If the “Save Target As” option isn't available, or it tries to save a file type (.htm), then click on the link anyway and let Adobe Reader try and open it. If it fails, the URL to the (.pdf) file should be in the Internet Explorer/Adobe Reader address bar. Copy the URL, open Foxit reader, go to File - Open, then paste the URL of the (.pdf) into the File Name textbox on the Open File pop-up screen and hit "Open".
I've tried changing the default (.pdf) reader to Foxit but sometimes the link to the (.pdf) still insists on using Adobe. Even if I try to use FireFox and Foxit together, there are some (.pdf) links that won't use anything but Adobe.
Sorry Adobe but I don't think it's your software, I think something is wrong with Windows on this computer.
