AppleCarre gave the solution.
Create a new user and see if that works.
Rename the Library>Preferrences folder to Preferrences.old
logout of new user
reboot
login as old user
It works to restore defaults.
Drag needed old prefs back in new prefs folder ( ie: mail, addressbook,etc)
The culprit was Adobe GoLive CS, it replaced the Java internet plugin with its own version, 1.31.
All is well on this INtel iMac.