Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:

I'm getting an exception " Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: ", but there's a main! My programs all worked yesterday but now applications are giving me this error and wont run. Did my jdk get corrupted?
[243 byte] By [Erik_N] at [2007-9-26 3:35:51]
# 1
check your class path;in the command promt add this line. The . (dot) is used for current directory.set classpath=%classpath%;.
debashisr at 2007-6-29 12:06:36 > top of Java-index,Archived Forums,Java Programming...
# 2

I tried that and SET PATH=C:/jdk1.3/bin in my autoexec bat but nothing changed. The quicktime install put this in

SET QTJAVA="C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3.1\lib\ext\QTJava.zip"

SET CLASSPATH="C:\Program Files\JavaSoft\JRE\1.3.1\lib\ext\QTJava.zip";.

But applets work and compiling works(just not running apps) so I'm not so sure it's a classpath problem. I'm running Windows ME.

Erik_N at 2007-6-29 12:06:36 > top of Java-index,Archived Forums,Java Programming...
# 3
I tried putting that line at the end of my autoexec.bat file. Is this what you meant? Can anyone help me, I'm stuck on this one.
Erik_N at 2007-6-29 12:06:36 > top of Java-index,Archived Forums,Java Programming...