I just wanted to put this in the record for others looking for a
solution.

I had been having total system lock-ups exiting from FireFox sometimes
I could not install Java based software.

Besides the apprantly random Firefox hangs all Java Windows came up
blank gray.  When I closed those windows Windows XP completely froze.
It was a total hang of the system.

I did find a message that tied simular problems to acceleration
settings on an ATI card.  Turns out the same is true for Nvidia.
I found was running under settings for a game, not my normal global
settings.  Change to the global setting set, a balance between quality
and speed, and the problem ended.

Java works perfectly.

That is all.
KH xperisDOTcom