Java applets cause parts of desktop to disappear

[Moose1974]

Hope someone can help me because this has been happening for awhile. Whenever I goto a webpage that uses a Java applet parts of my desktop turn black (i.e. taskbar, IE6 titlebar, start button,etc.). I'm using WinXP Pro and clicking on the "show desktop" button in the quick launch bar makes everything reappear but the Java applets still don't work. The version of Java I'm using is j2re-1_4_2_04-windows-i586-p. All my drivers are up to date and my hardware config is in my sig. Anyone have any ideas?