Any particular reason that you have this old version of Java installed?
Java Plug-in 1.5.0_06 for Netscape Navigator (DLL Helper)
It won't work with Firefox 3.6 or later versions, so unless you have it for another program why not uninstall it?

Or update it to the latest 1.6.0_26 version so it is available for Firefox and "updated".

...don't think my post went through -- 2nd try: Hello Edmeister and thanks for the reply. I haven't run into any issues with Java so I haven't updated it. Java is listed on Plugin Check along with 18 other plugins labled "research" most of which I will never use. I need to know how to turn off Plugin Check or at least make it optional. And I'm curious to know why this just started happening. Any help appreciated.

It just started with me also. Very frustrating.

You can correct this issue by forcing the file blocklist.xml to update or wait until Firefox updates the file.
That update will remove the severity="0" flags in the file that cause the problem.

See:

• /questions/832793?page=2#answer-198407
• http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=10899869#p10899869

• Bug 663722 - The blocklist output is including severity="0" where it shouldn't be

cor-el, Thank you! I'm basically a techno-peasant but I followed the instructions in that second link and when I started Firefox the next time I got only my homepage. I don't know how you figured that out but I very much appreciate your help. I was starting to think this approach to support was all "crowd" and no "source." Thanks again.

Well he probably saw a post of mine pointing to the Bug 663722 and figured out the way to reload blocklist.xml in with the code in Tools > Error Console.

That code has been posted before: /questions/732059