Can anyone tell me if Joomla 1.0 has a built in function for reporting the number of times a file, PDF in this case, has been requested? (The query is on behalf of someone else, as I know nothing of Joomla and have no access to the installation in question.)
If you want to check the numbers of times for a file than you go ahead and download Monitor for Joomla This program will allow you to trace file downloads. Just place the direct link to the file on the web, and specify the extensions of files you want to trace. Because Monitor creates interactive chart and records totall downloads. But for that you have to put writable .htaccess file of Apache Web server in Joomla root folder.
I’m not familliar with Monitor, but having a writable htaccess file sounds like a big security risk to me.
It’s lost time if you have decide to working with Joomla 1.0
Download one of new versions (2.5 or 3.0) in order to built a safety website with a lot of capabilities