If you're anything like me, you might keep some 'web-aware' programs turned off (for speed and memory).
In checking the Sun Java virtual machine earlier today, I noticed that it had been upgraded to Version 6 Update 10 for General Release (for the Windows Platform running DirectX 9.0c).
You can check your system by going the the control panel and clicking on the Java icon. It will tell you what version you have and whether or not and update is available.
Upon installing the upgrade, you will be prompted whether or not to include the Yahoo toolbar (a practice which is becoming all too common but you can opt-out), and when completed, the update will revert to the defaults.
In my case, I turn the auto-updater off and also do not cache the Java files and performance under XP3 is fine.
You may also want to revisit 'installed programs' as the Java engine doesn't always remove the previous copy.
There are numerous changes under Update 10 including better interaction with DirectX graphics acceleration and more. Sun's Update 10 release notes can be found here.
Notes: Some issues have been reported with Java SE 6 and Google's Chrome Browser. In our tests, it worked fine but depending on YOUR configuration that may not be the case. In fact, Update 10 appears to be tuned better for Chrome (see below). In addition, much older machines may have the original Microsoft Virtual Machine still installed. The Sun engine will replace it and (technically) the Microsoft Virtual Machine is no longer available.
Let your hardware do the work. Because the product is delivered separately (but provided on most out-of-the-box computers), Microsoft's Windows Update will NOT update your Java engine.
In two machines here, both with hardware accelerators on-board, there was a marked improvement in graphics speed under Windows XP3 with the latest version of DirectX.
You can visit Sun's Java Website here.