Why does downloading a PDF file open in an encrypted format?

pw2much

Posts: 84   +0
A friend of mine used my computer to take a drivers safety course and when he completed the course he was suppose to download the certificate as a pdf file when I clicked on the link it took me to a blank page. I refreshed the page and a long page of encripted files showed up, can anyone please tell me why that happened and if there is a way to correct it,or if there is a setting that I need to change. I tried to download it a few times and got the same results.the blank page first then the encrypted file shows up!! I'm running - Win.7 HP 32bit w/ IE-9, I use Foxit reader ver.4.3 as my default pdf reader but it didn't go thru foxit? what causes a file to download that way?
 
question: can you download and view ANY other PDFs or is it only this one that is causing problems?
 
.pdf problems?

You are using 'Foxit reader' as an alternative to Adobe Acrobat reader, but to prove a point can you download and try Adobe's pdf reader to open your .pdf's ?
If that works, you could uninstall 'Foxit', and download it again, or try another reader, such as, download.cnet.com/Sumatra-PDF-Viewer/3000-10743_4-10698785.html
 
I found out what the problem was it wasn't the pdf readers that were failing me it was IE-9 Beta that was not allowing the pdf's to download properly when I switched back to IE-8 the pdf files downloaded right! so that's a lesson in itself for me. But I thank you guys for the help that you always give!
 
Well, this strange case attracted my curiosity, so compliments on solving it yourself and thanks for providing feedback informing us of the cause (and thanking those who had provided input). This is how I envisage correct OP conduct.

The lesson to be drawn, once more, is that installing betas isn’t a good idea, even if they come from MS itself and gain favorable reviews. But even in final version, IE is not the best choice in my opinion, as it constitutes primary target for hackers. Other browsers would be preferable, such as Firefox, Opera and Chrome.
 
I second bobcat's congrats! Very good analysis of possible points of errors.
 
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