"Netscape, running under Windows 200 Professional, on a COMCAST Hi-Speed has resulted in several freezes during down-load. Waiting does not solve the problem. Closing the download window and re-clicking the applicable .pdf will re-start the download. I've had several successfull re-attempts, and at least one double failure."

That is almost certainly due to interference on your line.
Most downloads cope with 'blips' by automatically re-trying (invisible to you). PDF's dont seem to cope, never have done, so its not anything I can address.

I dont like the term 'downloading' in the browser bar. You are only downloading to memory, not to disk. 'opening file' would be much better.