I recieved this tip from someone else hope this helps
Microsoft Visual J++ is a Java IDE for editing, compiling,
and debugging Java source code. It also provides GUI editing tools
that generate code for you you.
Visual J++ added some extensions to the pure Java language that
you can easily disable.
The latest version of Visual J++ is 6.0. It supports JDK 1.1.
In order to use JDK 1.2, JDK 1.3, or beyond you must follow the
procedure below:
Modify the CLASSPATH in the registry. Run RegEdit.exe and locate
the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Java VM
and modify the CLASSPATH string to include the rt.jar file from
you JDK distribution. For example:
c:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3\lib\rt.jar
needs to be added to the end of the CLASSPATH string, and don't
forget the semi-colon separating each entry in the string. Also
note the "." at the end of the CLASSPATH string.