No go. Reinstall of Java and FW hasn't corrected the problem. (I never found entries in the registry - meant to say that I looked for them and didn't find any. That's what I get for posting late at night.) Unfortunately, I have the same issue with the "other download" version as well.

I'm not going to install Java 1.4.2 because that's a downgrade and has known security issues.

As far as I can tell, FW still works, but as long as the error is non-specific, then I can't do much more than I already have. I really wish it would provide details. That would at least be useful.

Thanks very much for the help guys, I really do appreciate your efforts. Thank you especially to Lord of the Rings - your tips are useful for more than just solving this issue.