Preserve absolute links when converting from Word

Acrobat Pro XI:  My Word document has absolute links.  At least, they look like absolute links in that they have backslashes, use spaces instead of %20.  When I convert to pdf the created file has relative links.

I do not want relative links.  The files are in fixed locations, accessed on our internal network only.  I want to keep the absolute links, and have the files opened with Reader (or Acrobat if that is the default for pdf files), not in a browser.  How do I convince Acrobat of this?  Until very recently this was not a problem, and absolute links were preserved as absolute links.

Further, manually editing the link does no good.  It asks if I want to open the file, but backslashes are replaced with %5C, along with spaces being replaced by %20.  If I agree to allow the file to be opened it at least opens with the correct program rather than in a browser as if it is a relative link, but it does not remember, and I am prompted every time even though I check the box telling it to remember.

This behavior is the same in Reader.  It is a major problem, as we have trained people for years to follow hyperlinks to required work documents.  Until now this has worked.  What changed?