Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: a (Unsupported major.minor version 51.0)

I installed JDK7, a simple hello word program gets compile but when I run this I got following exception.

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: a (Unsupported major.minor version 51.0)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)

    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(Unknown Source)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(Unknown Source)

I checked java -version on command prompt, it shows Java version 1.4.2_03 but when I tried to install new java version from java.com it says that I'm having recommended Java 7 version.

Answer

Copy the contents of the PATH settings to a notepad and check if the location for the 1.4.2 comes before that of the 7. If so, remove the path to 1.4.2 in the PATH setting and save it.

After saving and applying "Environment Variables" close and reopen the cmd line. In XP the path does no get reflected in already running programs.