If you heard today’s Deemable Tech segment during Morning Edition, you know that you need to disable Java on your web browser, now! If you didn’t hear today’s Deemable Tech segment, you should listen to it, and well, you read the last sentence, so now you know too. It’s not just our opinion, either. The Department of Homeland Security put out an urgent advisory in January for everyone to disable Java now, unless it is absolutely necessary for you to use it. What you need to know now is how to disable Java, now.
Keep in mind, if you regularly visit a website that uses Java, that website will not work once you disable Java. To reenable Java, simply follow the directions again, and enable Java instead of disabling it. Also, you should probably call and complain to the company that owns the website, and ask them to stop using Java.
Sadly, most people are still using Internet Explorer, so we’ll start with that.
Internet Explorer 8 through 10
(If you are using anything older than Internet Explorer 8, you need to upgrade! Try one of the browsers listed below, except for Safari.)
Click on the Tools menu at the top, and choose Manage Add-ons. On the left of the window that pops up, select All Add-ons from the drop down under the heading Show. Then, scroll down and disable anything that says ?Oracle America, Inc.? next to it. Finally, restart your browser.
Chrome
Click the white address bar at the top of the screen. In that field, type “chrome://plugins” (do not type the quotation marks). Then, press Enter. In the new tab that opens, look for the the item(s) with Java in the name. Click the blue Disable link below it. Finally, restart your browser.
Firefox
If you don’t see the menu bar, (File, Edit, View, etc.) at the top of the page, first click the orange Firefox button at the top-left. Then go to Options and click Menu Bar.
Open the Tools menu, and click Add-ons. On the tab that appears, click Plug-ins on the left. Scroll down the list on the right-hand side until you see something that begins Java (TM) Platform… Click the Disable button to the right of the listing. Finally, restart your browser.
Opera
Click the white address bar at the top of the screen. In that field, type “opera:plugins” (do not type the quotation marks). Then, press Enter. In the new tab that opens, look for the the item(s) with Java in the name. Click the blue Disable link to the right. Finally, restart your browser.
Safari
If you’re using Safari on Windows, you should get rid of it. Apple has stopped updating it. Follow this guide to migrate to a new browser.
If you decide not to heed our advice, and you want to keep Safari on Windows, click the Action menu in the top-right corner. It looks like a gear. Click Show Menu Bar. Now, click Edit, then Preferences. On the window that appears, click the Security tab. Uncheck the box next to Enable Java if it is checked. Finally, restart your browser.
In Safari on Mac, if the menu bar isn’t visible, press the Esc button on your keyboard to exit full-screen mode. Now, click Edit, then Preferences. On the window that appears, click the Security tab. Uncheck the box next to Enable Java if it is checked. Finally, restart your browser.
Follow these directions, and keep Java disabled until Oracle pulls their act together. Stay tuned to Deemable Tech, and we’ll let you know when and if that happens.
What if it shows Java (Specifically Java Plug-in 2 SSV Helper and Java Plug-in SSV Helper), but the publisher is Sun Microsystems and not Oracle? Should that still be disabled? Thanks for the heads up!
Yes. Sun Microsystems owned Java until Oracle bought them in 2010. This means your Java hasn’t been updated since 2010. Disable it…now!
follow this at your own risk… this does affect how you are able to use some websites….. or remember that you disabled it…. so when you call tech support, you can save yourself and the tech 30 min of trouble shooting…. take it from someone who does this for living…. its NOT our idea of fun to try to figure out what you disabled… and if you to choose to disable it do not take it upon yourself to blame the website you are using……
True, but the risk of leaving it enabled is MUCH greater than the risk of disabling it. I have been running with Java disabled since January, and I have yet to come across a website that needed to use it. If I did come across a website using Java, I wouldn’t be using that website anyway.
For our listeners, as we mentioned on the radio, Java is not JavaScript. Don’t disable JavaScript. Do disable Java.
ha! thanks for clarifying it… just remember that when you call for tech support for a website, you start out by saying: i have disabled java… otherwise you are going waste their time and yours…. because they will make you jump through every trouble shooting step… AND it may still NOT let you do what you are trying to do……… and remember not to get upset with the tech…… because they are going by what you have disclosed…………. just saying!
That’s a very good point. Tech support people like to follow their scripts! Be sure to emphasize that you have disabled Java.
I found nothing that said Java and Oracle, but several plug-ins that were from Sun Microsystems from October 2011. I went ahead and disabled them (you guys were so insistent), but are they what I needed to disable? They were:
on Firefox
Java Deployment Toolkit 6.0.290.11
on my Internet Explorer (which I rarely use)
Java TM Plug-in 2 SSV Helper
Java Plug-in 1.6.0_29
Deployment Toolkit
I have no idea what any of these names and numbers mean–I am not a techie, but I follow directions. Let me know please if I did the right thing.
You’ve got it Shira. Sun Microsystems owned Java before Oracle bought them. Worse case scenario, if a site doesn’t work, just go back in and reenable one plugin at a time until the site works.
There is this program called jucheck.exe that pops up every now and it asks permission to run. It apparently is a Java updater. I have gone through the steps above to disable Java across all of my machines/browsers but wonder if I don’t disable jucheck, is it going to update Java next time there is a new version and turn itself back on in the browsers? Thanks.
Hey Joe, we’re talking more about this on today’s podcast. But the short version is that you probably don’t need to disable JUCheck.
You should still keep Java updated. That way, if you need to use it you’ll have the most recent, and hopefully, most secure version available.
Thanks guys. I had disabled jucheck via msconfig. I will go back and enable it.