Uh, no, java is not for suckers, IE is. I use Firefox with an addon called No-Script, so I can control whether or not javascript runs by URL, the default is not to run until you enable it. You can enable it temporarily or permanently by domain. As I said though, if java doesn't work for you, use a regular IRC client (of which there are lots).
Tom
"Toby, you are a thief of joy"