Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowser.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowser.java	(revision 2275)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowser.java	(revision 2276)
@@ -5,5 +5,4 @@
 
 import java.awt.BorderLayout;
-import java.awt.Dimension;
 import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
 import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
@@ -37,5 +36,4 @@
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.tools.OpenBrowser;
 import org.openstreetmap.josm.tools.WikiReader;
-import org.openstreetmap.josm.tools.WindowGeometry;
 
 public class HelpBrowser extends JFrame {
Index: trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowserProxy.java
===================================================================
--- trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowserProxy.java	(revision 2275)
+++ trunk/src/org/openstreetmap/josm/gui/help/HelpBrowserProxy.java	(revision 2276)
@@ -3,8 +3,13 @@
 
 import java.io.File;
+import static org.openstreetmap.josm.tools.I18n.tr;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 import java.io.PrintWriter;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+
+import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
+
+import org.openstreetmap.josm.Main;
 
 /**
@@ -45,5 +50,5 @@
             javaBin = "javaw.exe";
         } else {
-            javaBin = "javaw";
+            javaBin = "java";
         }
         cmdLine.add(new File(new File(System.getProperty("java.home"), "bin"), javaBin).toString());
@@ -61,9 +66,11 @@
             e.printStackTrace();
         }
-        pw = new PrintWriter(
-                new OutputStreamWriter(
-                        helpBrowserProcess.getOutputStream()
-                )
-        );
+        if (helpBrowserProcess != null) {
+            pw = new PrintWriter(
+                    new OutputStreamWriter(
+                            helpBrowserProcess.getOutputStream()
+                    )
+            );
+        }
     }
 
@@ -79,4 +86,10 @@
         }
         if (helpBrowserProcess == null) {
+            JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(
+                    Main.parent,
+                    tr("Failed to launch the external help browser"),
+                    tr("Error"),
+                    JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE
+            );
             System.err.println("Failed to launch browser");
             return;