Recieved an email mail from a colleague and i open the attachment and it comes up cannot open pdf file?

Do you have Adobe Acrobat installed? You will need this for a pdf file.

Why am I thinking all you may have to do is simply allow your Adobe Reader program to update itself - ? On my computer, I open all .pdf documents with Adobe Reader. You might want to go to Settings from your Start Menu (Desktop) and call up your Control Panel and go to the Add/Remove icon and give it a click, let it open and check to see if you have Adobe Reader on your computer. I am new to computers, relatively speaking, but it would seem to me if you have Adobe Reader on your computer and you allow it to update itself, it should be perfectly capable of opening and presenting that .pdf document your friend sent to you recently. I hope you also get more comprehensive answers than this one so you will be able to open that attachment easily and read or view its contents soon.