cannot view or save pdf in safari or firefox

I have latest versions of safari 5.1.8 and firefox 19.0.2 and adobe reader 11.0.02.

I suddenly cannot view or save from either safari or firefox.

The PDF link looks like this

Click TOPIC 1 NOTES.pdf link to view the file.

there is a white screen above (used to be black).

I used t have the option of clicking on print or save file but this has disappeared.

when I click on the file I get the following 'Can not read file, either file does not exist or there are permission problems'

I have deleted the plug in /Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewer.plugin

and checked in finder that the file does not exist elsewhere (it doesn't)

I've run out of things to check now.

i need to access these files urgently! There was an update recently and the problems seem to be from the update.