.ashx problems? Here are tips!

I have been having trouble opening .ashx files downloaded in Safari or Firefox. The titles said they were PDF or Word files, but the link had a .ashx extension. They wouldn't open in Preview, Pages or anything else in my Dock. A Google search on ".ashx mac" sent me on wild goose chases. I notified the site's webmaster. Here's the response:

"Thanks for your feedback regarding the use of .ashx files on [our] website.

"The reason we use these files is that [our] website is building for the future. Our goal is to make sure we have the ability to be a mobile phone ready site.... This requires that the new format for documents be .ashx because .ashx files search each device for the appropriate program to open the file with. .ashx files can be opened by any number of programs depending on the one the device has available, while files such as .pdf can only be opened with Adobe reader.

"When you open the document, you will be able to save it as a PDF without compromising the integrity of the file. We upload our documents to the site as PDFs – it’s simply the way in which the documents “talk” to your computer (i.e. .ashx) that’s the difference.

"If you’re having problems opening the .ashx files, this is something we are aware of. At this time, MAC users running Firefox seem to be the only customers experiencing this problem. Using Safari instead of Firefox should resolve the problem. The issue is actually not with our website but with Firefox. We've logged the issue with them directly."

There are a couple of other solutions:
* .ashx files open in Adobe Reader
* change the extension from .ashx to .pdf, and the file will open in Preview or Reader.