In recent days the news has spread of an exploit on Java, or a vulnerability that can be used by computer viruses to infect and control computers. Although Oracle, owner of Java, immediately released a patch to correct the problem, since it is not the first time and it will not be the last hole found on Java, it could be useful for everyone to disable this plugin on the computer to avoid any risk future. As also written in previous articles, the most insecure software on a computer are basically two: Flash and Java (in addition to the .Net Framework).
If, however, the Flash Player is necessary to view streaming videos from sites like YouTube, Java is not so indispensable and can certainly be removed or, at least, deactivated to avoid unnecessary security risks.
For normal users and everyone who uses the computer from home, there are very few reasons to keep Java so we have three options:
1) If you don't use Java-based programs or games (like Minecraft), then you can uninstall it completely.
2) If instead you use applications that require Java, you can only disable the plugin in browsers.
3) If you are forced to use Java in the browser to open a specific site (or a game), it is convenient to disable Java in the main browser and instead use an alternative browser only for that site.
First of all, visit the Java test site to find out which version of Java is installed on your computer.
Currently, the security hole (see details) concerns the Java 7 06 version.
1) To uninstall Java completely you have to go to the Windows program installation menu and remove all Java versions.
Although a bit old you can try the tool that removes all versions of Java in one go, which I mentioned some time ago.
2) To disable Java on web browsers or, at least, on the main browser, you can follow the following instructions depending on whether you use Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome.
- On Google Chrome to disable Java you must open the plugins page by writing on the address bar chrome: // plugins and press enter.
This displays all the plugins used by the browser, some can be activated, others disabled.
Once you find Java in the list, click on Disable.
- On Mozilla Firefox, type about: addons in the browser's address bar, press enter, go to the Plugins page and disable Java.
- On Internet Explorer press the wheel at the top right, go to the Add-ons Manager, scroll the list, select the Java plugins and press the "Disable" button.
- On Opera type opera: plugins in the address bar, press enter, find Java in the list and disable it.
With Google Chrome and Firefox there is also the possibility to manually enable the execution of the plugins .
In Chrome, open the settings, scroll down until you find the Privacy section, press the " content settings " button and, in the plugin section, enable " click to play ".
This setting, however, applies to all plugins, Java and also Flash content or animations that can be viewed only by clicking with the mouse.
As seen, the click to play was introduced in Firefox.
When using Java on your computer, you can also download the portable version of Java to run only with portable applications, perhaps kept on a USB stick.
This way there would be no security risk for any vulnerabilities.
JPortable must be downloaded and the archive extracted.
Java portable is automatically recognized by PortableApps applications while, for other programs, it would be required to change the environment variable or copy the JRE folder to the folder of the program to be executed.
If you really don't want to give up on Java, at least make sure you download the latest updated version of Java .
