Printer output from java applet is no longer in vector format?

I have an online sheet music generator that for draws sheet music graphics to an area about 600pixels square. This looks OK on the screen but if printed each note would look blocky. I always used to be able to print this applet in Internet explorer and get a full vector output of the sheet music so the notes were perfectly rounded, even though they are only a dozen pixels in radius.

Sometime over the summer there must have been an update to java, or (internet explorer?) so my printouts now look horribly blocky. Can anyone think of a reason for this?

I have two versions of my applet, one is double buffered for animation purposes,(which would obviously 开发者_Python百科produce a rasterised image unsuitable for printing) the other draws straight to the screen which is the one which I have been using for printing and has worked fine up until now! Any help would be much appreciated as I use this program professionally and I have to print several thousand pages from it next week!

Can anyone think of a reason for this?

The obvious answer to that might be 'a change to Java', which can be tested by disabling the later Java version in the Java Control Panel (1), and using the earlier version only.

(1) Java Control Panel

1. (Close the Java Cache Viewer.)
2. Navigate to the Java tab of the JCP.
3. Select the View button
4. In the Java Runtime Environment Settings dialog, check the earlier versions, uncheck the later ones.

Java Runtime Environment Settings dialog

If that works

Use the earlier version for the 'several thousand pages'.