java questions and help

Hi not sure if I am in the right place. I have been trying to figure out a java situation and have had no luck. Okay....some games I play once in a while at pogo.com need me to have sun java. I have installed it several times and yes I uninstalled older versions I found. Okay but....I can't open the java console under tools. I see it there but nothing opens. When I run a test at their site, it never finds it also. It is listed in my programs. Okay then....Microsoft VM was what I had to load a couple years ago to support a couple games I really play most often online. I don't think they use it anymore but they work fine. I believe sun would work also in other words. I am running Vista Home Premium by the way. So when I go to tools, advanced options and look at the list. Sun java isn't there to work with. Microsoft VM is. I have no idea after trying to reinstall Sun many times why it won't be useable except to assume that the VM is the default java?
Is it safe to try the uninstall tool here to remove that, remove sun and try all this java stuff again? I am worried I will totally mess up my computer just for some R and R time! Help me out please. Thanks!