I went to an online help forum and paid $50 for someone to rop into my system to solve the problem. He couldn't get the 64-bit version to install, either. His recommendation was either to install the 32-bit version or re-install Windows. 32-bit is sufficient for my homework, but I'm disappointed that I could not get the 64-bit version installed. I'm not inclined to undo months of work on my system on the whim that maybe re-installing Windows would fix the problem. More likely, I would spend weeks doing it, only to find out it had no effect. So, I'm out $50, but at least I'm able to compile Java programs. He hung around to help me get everything set up and working, which is helpful, because I'm not used to tinkering with system variables in the 32-bit world. Also, I didn't like where he stuck the files, so I uninstalled what he did and re-did it the way I want it.
I hate computers. They are the bane of my existence. All day long, every time I try to do something, I get some nag window popping up, telling me that I can't do it, and then I have to spend a few minutes changing things so I can. It's a pain! It took me 2 hours to get my PATH command set correctly, and I still don't know for certain the reason my system wouldn't let me edit the path the first dozen times I tried.