Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

• You can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

Please report back soon.

Does Java work in other browsers (i.e. Google Chrome, Internet Explorer)?

Thanks for reply. Tried program which uses Java plugin with FF in safe mode, plugin not available. Same result when tried to access the program using Explorer. Java website says Java not installed despite my having run the installer.

Hello tomha, i have the same problem with 7.40 and the problem solved by download and install the windows offline installer (filesize: 27.6 MB) !!

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

thank you

If ideato's reply doesn't work, please try manually deleting the Java program folder from your computer's hard drive.

WARNING: Removing folders/files can cause damage to other programs and the Windows operating system. use caution when manually deleting folders/files.

Thank you for your assistance. For unknown reason,s after I left the computer sitting idle (asleep?) for several hours and then returned I found the Java had installed and the program requiring it was operable !!! Perhaps the issue was my slow internet connection (in a country area and thus via satellite). Regards

To close the original request, thanks to Ideato and Computerwhiz. I did not need to try their latest suggestions. Regards.