I shouldn't really be offering advise on a browser I never use. However, I believe that the browser of the beast doesn't use java per se, but some win-java, which isn't entirely like the real thing (like the way IE interprets the CSS box model but that's beside the point). I think, also (again I don't really know this) that the win-java is integrated into the browser (like all those other things you don't want but can't get rid of in windows), so to cut a long story short, try either uninstalling and reinstalling, or if there is an IE 6.x where x is higher than your current model, download and install that.