[odigg]

Hi Everybody,
 
I thought I'd post a general note telling people to uninstall Java and the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) if you do not use it on your computer.  Java seems to be installed on a lot of computers even when it doesn't need to be.
 
Why uninstall it?  Java seems to have a lot of security holes and there are a number of exploits out there right now.  It's easy to get a virus/trojan/malware without even realizing it.
 
I'll provide an example.  I'm fairly competent with computers and computer security.  My home computer has security software and I typically run my primary browser (Firefox) in a sandbox (via Sandboxie). 
 
I occasionally use Opera.  This morning I fired up Opera and went to a very popular computer hardware forum.  A few seconds after the page loaded Java started up (as indicated in the system tray) and my security software stated it had found 2 infected files.  A few seconds later the trojan had taken over, before my security software could clean it.  The security software was then shut down, task manager was disabled, etc.  I had to reboot into safe mode to deal with it.
 
I had not seen any prompts to run the trojan.  This software had used a Java exploit to bypass all the security protections, including the operating system prompting me to allow/prevent this program from running.
 
This is not just a Windows problem.  Java runs on OSX and Linux as well and has exploits on every operating system.  The Java issues are beyond operating systems and web browsers.  You can keep your Java updated (as I did) but that won't solve all the problems.  If you don't need Java uninstall it and you won't have to worry about Java exploits.

 

[Jon L]

I had to uninstall Java from my computer the other day because my computer kept asking to "update" Java almost every DAY!  Another laptop is doing the same thing, both running Windows 7.   I still have Java on the other computer due to a website that needs it, but any idea what it prompts a Java update almost every day and how to get rid of this???

 

[odigg]

Quote:

I had to uninstall Java from my computer the other day because my computer kept asking to "update" Java almost every DAY!  Another laptop is doing the same thing, both running Windows 7.   I still have Java on the other computer due to a website that needs it, but any idea what it prompts a Java update almost every day and how to get rid of this???

 
I'll bet Java is downloading updates but they are not installing properly.  So you constantly get warnings that Java needs to be updated.  Try uninstalling Java then installing the latest version from Oracle website.
 
Or uninstall it and be done with it forever
 
 

 

[rymd]

+lots of 1s on this
my java was only like 2 or 3 updates behind and I got a horrible trojan that downloaded all sorts of stuff, messed up my computer. i don't visit any shady sites so i suspect getting the trojan from an infected ad on a supposedly safe site. the computer security expert who helped me clean my computer told me to update java :x