Safari 3.1.2 crashes when downloading PDF

Question

For the past month, Safari crashes every time I click on or try to download a PDF. I have to go to FireFox just to download so it's not my computer. I have no problem using Acrobat at any other time.
The Adobe versions I have installed are Acrobat Professional 8.1.2 and Reader 8.1.2. (I have tried multiple times to update them to 9 but for some reason it won't work)
I click on a link to download a PDF. It takes me to a new window with a dark gray screen. The beachball spins for a while then Safari quits and I get this message:
"The application Safari quit unexpectedly. The problem may have been caused by the Acrobat plug-in".
Any ideas?

Answer 1

For starters, you don't need Adobe Reader or even Adobe Acrobat Professional to view a PDF in Safari, so you shouldn't be using either of them for that. Safari displays PDF files in the browser natively, without any need for additional software. So to rid yourself of that problem, do this:
1. Quit Safari if it's running.
2. Open Adobe Reader and go to Preferences > Internet and uncheck the box at the top where it says "Display PDFs in browser using:", then quit Adobe Reader. Do the same for Acrobat Pro.
3. Go to HD/Library/Internet Plug-Ins and remove the Adobe plugin.
4. Copy/paste this command into Terminal and press Enter; then exit and quit Terminal:
defaults write com.apple.Safari WebKitOmitPDFSupport -bool false
5. Restart Safari and try dragging a PDF file from your Mac directly into an open browser window; it should render without any problem.
Mulder