I can no longer view PDF files from mozilla, I have to download them. Is this normal?

Install or re-install Adobe Acrobat Reader. That’ll fix it. You could also go and make sure the .pdf are still associated with Reader but, really, that’ll probably take more time then re-installing it.

And… just so you know, it is possible to get a virus through a PDF file. So make sure you keep Reader up to date.

if that doesnt work (it can be flakey) you may want to install a firefox add-on like pdf download or something to that effect to manage em better.

Try this if you’re on a pc. Go to the Tools drop down menu and choose option and the third tab will be Applications. Click on that and scroll down to the entries for Adobe Acrobat. I check those to make sure that those haven’t gotten messed up somehow. The first one should be set to use Adobe to read pdfs and the 2nd one I think, may be where you might be messed up. Make sure that it’s set to open PDFs in Firefox. The option might have somehow gotten set to download PDFs.

By default, any time I click on a link to a PDF, it gets sent to Foxit Reader as I feel that Assrobot Reader is bloated and slow,and Firefox’s innate PDF ability is limited as well, so I go with Foxit.

Remember, you have to download the file anyways if it is going to be viewed on your screen. The only difference is whether it gets saved to a file on your disk after you are done with it.

As well as the setting @lillycoyote describes, Adobe Reader has a setting which controls this.

Edit -> Preferences -> Internet -> Display PDF in Browser