Java problem on Windows 8 machine

The Windows 8.1 desktop at the SSSHos.SS office was unable to use the Income tax site's java based authentication. Checking, found that even the java test applet was not loading. At first I suspected that the network firewall and proxy were blocking all java applets. But later found that other machines on the same network were able to access java applets without problems, eg the one in JHos. So, I wrote,

The following points can be checked.

1. Verify that it is a 64-bit version of java which is installed, and it is a 64-bit version of the browser (IE or firefox). If browser is 32 bit, then you need to install 32 bit version of Java also.

2. Verify that Windows Defender and or any other antivirus is turned off while testing for Java (and turn it back on after doing the test). This person found that Kaspersky was blocking the java applets,
http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/windows-8-and-java-problem

But even disabling Kaspersky did not solve the issue - maybe it needs to be uninstalled? Temporary workaround is to use the JHos computer for this job.