Java is downloaded ,but program requiring it, can't find it

My wife is using Apex fitness bodybugg program which required recent version of Java. She downloaded it, prob 5 times, anyways the Apex program is continually telling her she needs it. She has restarted the computer, I've checked under programs, and Java is there, and I have Internet options, security and privacy both at Medium. Are one of my malware, spyware, anti virus programs causing the problem. Any ideas?

 

Possibly incorrect Java settings

 

Wow, that was a very specific response, you're obviously familiar with Apex. Unfortunately, when I did what you said, I'm still having the same problem. After restarting the computer was I suppose to do any more changes with the check boxes, because I didn't. When I logged in to Apex, it said you don't have the software needed to run, click the java link. When I click the link it says I'm running Java 6. Not sure what the deal is. Even after having version 6, if I went to the java site, under FAQ, it checked my version and said O.S 5.1, to fix it said make sure the box is checked under advanced. When I did what you told me to do, I run Comodo firewall, it blocked or warned of a lot of things, but I clicked "allow" everytime. Micro VM did install. What do you think I should do next. I emailed Apex support, but people had said it's taking weeks to hear back. Thanks

 

What happens if you just temporarily shut down Comodo firewall and then try to access Apex?

 

The answer for this could be different depending on what version of the JDK from Sun that you are installing.

In general I suspect that you need to set your environment variables.

Start -> Settings -> Control panel -> System -> Advanced -> Environment variables

The bin directory from the JDK needs to go in your PATH. I would suggest putting it first ... but there might be a more optimal place. There are other variables also.

This is serious stuff you're being asked to tweak here and you could easily really mess things up. If you are not comfortable doing this get someone knowledgable to do it for you.

You can get an idea from this thread ...

http://forums.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=272053&tstart=28530

Again, exact settings will depend on your JDK.

 

Above I said JDK. I should have said JRE ... Java Runtime Environment.

The idea of setting the environment variables remains the same.

 

You're right, changing the variables may be out of my league. I may have narrowed it down to JRE not obtaining proxy info from browser or JRE not configured correctly. I was told to configure my proxy setings for the browser? Is there a link explaining how to do this? I will have to search. Would this maybe be the cause? When I am on JAVA's site to test my version, the data box is blank and the dancing character is missing. The only thing showing is a small red " x ".

 

My point with the environment variables is that if your PATH is ...

%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;ETC;ETC

... and you manually change it to ...

C:\j2sdk1.4.0_01\bin%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;ETC;ETC

... and you miss the ";" that should be between "bin%" then you would have stoped the ability of Windows to find programs in that first VERY inportant directory %SystemRoot%\system32 .

I doubt that the machine would run without that.

OK ... now to your proxy question ...

A proxy server is a computer that LAN administrators can setup in their LAN (corporate network) that is effectively the interface to the outside world (the internet usually). All the computers talk to the proxy and the proxy then talks to the internet.

If you are at home and are connected to the web via dial-up or a cable/DSL modem then you almost certainly have no proxy server. Now, depending on your ISP I could be wrong about that, but probably not. If you are within the network of a university then maybe you could have a proxy.

The proxy server IP address and port can be gotten from your LAN administrator or ISP.

An IP address is a number that is given to all computers to identify them. A port is simply a number that is put into all outgoing packets from your PC that identify the packets as being of a certain type.

On my (old) copy of Internet Explorer (IE) the place to enter that info is ...

IE -> Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> LAN Settings

Internet Options can also likely be found on your desktop.

When you surf to the Java website my guess is that the "dancing character is missing" because Java programs are not able to run in your browser.

The most important "answer" I want to give you in this post is that if you are at home (not on a LAN/corporate network) and connected to the net via dial-up or cable/DSL modem then it is very unlikely you need to mess with proxy settings.

Please post the link that you are downloading Java from.

Please go to Start -> Run and type in the command on the next line and press the Return key.

cmd

A DOS window will open. Type in the commands on the next two lines and press the Return key after each command (obviously).

cd Desktop
set > somevars.txt

A file named somevars.txt will appear on the desktop of your computer. Do one of the two following things:
A - Open the file and copy the text of it into your next post.
B - Attach the file to your next post.