Yup, you have to examine the claims. So I took a look at the claims for US patent 5,742,768 ("System and method for providing and displaying a web page having an embedded menu"). Claim 1 is (I'm paraphrasing a bit) having a web page with an applet that displays a menu in which there are some links. You might think "oh yeah, that's a typically overbroad claim 1", but the others don't restrict it in at-all-interesting ways. Doing it over the internet. Doing it on a private internet. Doing it in Java. And -- this is as innovative as it gets -- having the applet pop up a menu when the user's pointer moves over a hot spot in the web page.

Yup, it's true that sometimes what seems on the face of it a ridiculous patent turns out to be a more sensible one whose title and/or abstract make it look worse than it is. On the other hand, sometimes what seems on the face of it to be a ridiculous patent really is ridiculous.