Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition)

I am having real problems insatlling and using JVM. I am running Win XP Pro SP1 and IE 6.

My initial problem was this:

After installing the JVM either via the Web or as an Offline installation and then visiting a site with Java Applets I get the following message: Java Runtime Environment cannot be loaded from <\bin\hotspot\jvm.dll>

I've checked my Path variable and it points to the installation. However, when I go to the installation directory then \bin\hotspot\ does not exist. I realise this is probably the problem. However, if I install a previous version of JVM then all is a-okay.

I don't mind installing a previous version, but would rather have the latest one so that I can teach myself Java.

Can I create the directory and just copy across the jvm.dll file? If so, which do I use since I have two:

{java}\bin\client\jvm.dll (1181KB)
{java}\bin\server\jvm.dll (2653KB)

Please help, this is driving me mad!


This got the following reply:

Older JREs used 'classic' and 'hotspot' as the directory names; newer versions use 'client' and 'server'. Sounds like you have some kind of configuration issue due to multiple JREs being installed and/or environment variables pointing to the wrong things. I'd suggest completely removing all installed JDKs/JREs and undoing any environment configurations; then go back and only install the latest version that you want to use.

So I crawled through the registry and removed all trace of Java, excluding Microsoft's JVM.

I reinstalled J2SE 1.4.2 and 1.4.2 SDK. However, IE still crashes when I use a Java applet and the Control Panel no longer appears to do anything.

I don't get any error messages as such, but I do get an error log produced (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.i.hayes/files/error1.txt and http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.i.hayes/files/error2.txt)

The Environmental Variables all point to the right place (as far as I can tell). Surely it's not a problem that I have both the JVM and SDK installed to C:\Program Files\Java\?

As I've said above, I don't mind reverting to an earlier version of Java, but would rather have the latest one.
One last thing, the WSDP doesn't appear to like JVM 1.4.2, is this right?

Sorry for the length of this post, but this is doing my head in :(