One thing I just remembered...when Vista first came out, some of the programs had to come up with patches to be compatible with Vista. You had to go to that programs website and download their patches, individually. You might try going to Adobe's website and seeing if they have this patch available. If you don't see it, is there contact info on their site so you can call or send them an email asking about one? Or just call/email them and ask how you can use your older program with Vista.
Bev, if you downloaded the new Adobe reader, I don't think that will let you download a pdf, it only lets you read a pdf. There are free pdf programs available on the net. You click on print, (after you have installed the program) and choose print to pdf instead of sending the document to your printer. A box will pop up asking you where you want to save your document to.