I use windows xp

I am trying to open my eclipse ide.

it says "A java runtime environment (Jre) or a java development kit(jdk) must be available inorder to run eclipse. no java virtual machine was found after searching the following locations. D:\eclipse\jre\bin\javaw.exe
javaw.exe in your current path.

i googled for the solution.

it said i had to set my environment variable path for it.

i checked if it was modified. earlier it was E:\jdk\bin

To my surprise it was modified and it looked like this.
C:\Program Files\ImageConverter Plus;C:\Program Files\ImageConverter Plus\Microsoft.VC80.CRT;C:\Program Files\ImageConverter Plus\Microsoft.VC80.MFC;
i installed image converter plus software only yesterday..

Please explain to me:

1) how did my path variable change?
2)could that be because of installing image converter plus software?
3)is there any way i could get back my old environment path variable?
4)How do i ensure that my default "environment variable path" does not change?

or

if some application tries to change it, i should be notified...

that would be a lot of help as it would prevent the unwanted modification of my environment variables.


Thanks and Regards.