java problem

I just switched to my new Mac last month and have a problem with the java plug-in. I go to one of my favorite sites (a genealogy research site) and the site initially opens just fine, but when I try to actually do research I get a message that says
"www.myheritage.com research requires the java plug-in from Sun Microsystems. Java is available on your computer, but its version is outdate and cannot be used" there is a link that takes me to the Sun site to install the most recent version of Java.

I download Java 2 SE 5.0 Release 1 and there is a disclaimer that this download will not replace the existing installation of J2 SE 1.4.2 - a "more info" link to apple support says to install the download then change my preferred Java version using preferences utilities. OK, so far so good.

I try to install and I get another message that says "J2SE 5.0 release 1 package can't be installed on this disk. Ma OS x 10.5 or greater is not eligible for this update.

any suggestions ?

It sounds like you have not installed this (update 6, released last December).

That should get you running the latest SE5.0 release available for Leopard. Make sure you are at 10.5.8 before running it.

java problem part 2

good try, but I cannot install that update either. It says "can only be installed on leopard" and only allows me to close. I am running snow leopard.
Installed java is listed as 13.1.0

Go to /Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences.app. What does it list as your default for applets? It should say Java SE 6 which is the current stable version of Java. Also, what browser are you using?

java problem part 2

it does say java 6, I am running Safari
but may have solved my own problem by using firefox as my browser instead of Safari. It works using firefox (I guess I didn't expect to have to use a different browser since I had heard such wonderful things about Safari).
Oh well, problem solved
thanks for your suggestions.