bug with IE5 upgrades and PDF files

[Robert Sullivan]

>I won't ask, but I'd really like to tell ProQuest and Gale Group what to do on
>their end, since we have hundreds of students and faculty members who won't be
>able to complete this fix on their laptop, and we can't go to all of them
>around the world.

I believe what you're seeing is detailed at

<http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q252/6/09.asp>

which is "Portable Document Format Files Not Opened in Internet Explorer When
Parameter List Exceeds 46 Characters."  That last bit would explain why other
sites work but not EbscoHost or InfoTrac or other sites with long URLs.

This was fixed in IE 5.01 SP1 (as was the more notorious NoRun problem), and
was another reason for us to move from 5.01 to 5.5.

If your users won't/can't upgrade, they can start Adobe Acrobat and choose File
| Preferences | General and uncheck "Web Browser Integration," and all will be
well.  This fix was given to me by Ebsco support.  It worked for us until 5.5
came out.  I never did find a way to do it automatically (Registry or
otherwise), but for individual users it should be OK.

Bob Sullivan                               scp_sulli at sals.edu
Schenectady County Public Library (NY)     http://www.scpl.org