What Version of Java Are You Using? On a computer with multiple web browsers, be sure to check the Java version in every browser. I say this because multiple copies of Java can sometimes be installed with different browsers using different copies. Also, Java can be enabled in one browser and disabled in another. Note: The portion of Java that runs programs is referred to as either the Java Run-time Environment (JRE) or the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Method 1: Ask Java This is my favorite - straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak). The Java Run-time Environment is aware of its version and the company that authored it.
So I wrote a very simple applet (the source code is on the page) that gets this information from the JRE and displays it in a pink rectangle. The version and vendor from the JRE If Java is working, you will see a pink rectangle above with one line of text that says something like: Java Version 1.8.025 from Oracle Corporation or Java Version 1.7.067 from Oracle Corporation or Java Version 1.6.045 from Sun Microsystems Inc.
Or Java Version 1.6.033 from Apple Inc. Version number translation: 1.6.034 is, in EnglishJava 6 Update 34 The initial '1' is ignored as is the third digit. Ask Oracle why. RUNNING THIS APPLET: Java security has changed quite a lot over the years and running this applet has gotten much more complicated. In part this is because the applet is unsigned. In the Bizarro world of Oracle, unsigned applets are treated as more dangerous than signed applets.
This is backwards for two reasons. First, unsigned applets run in a restricted Java sandbox whereas signed applets are given unrestricted access to the system. Yes, the sandbox has been buggy and broken, but some security is better than none. Second, it shows a faith in the Certificate Authority system that is unwarranted. February 2017: This applet will not run at all, immediately after installing Java 8 Update 121 on Windows 7.
Update Java in the Java Control Panel. Launch the Java Control Panel by clicking the Java icon under System Preferences. Go to the Update tab in Java Control Panel and click on Update Now button that brings up Installer window. Click on Install Update. Click on Install and Relaunch. On your computer, Java may be set to automatically check for and install new Java. From the Apple menu in the upper left corner of the screen, select.
The first thing that needs to be done is to add this website as an allowed exception in the Java Control Panel, on the Security tab. Details are below. After doing so, IE11 will run the app, but only if ActiveX filtering is disabled. IE11 produces a single popup window that asks for permission to run the app. Chrome 56 at all, it doesn't even bother with error messages. Likewise, Firefox 51 does not run Java.
It incorrectly reports that Java is disabled. This Firefox behavior changed. Version 47 of Firefox will run this applet. You first have to respond to three different popup windows asking for permission and warning of the end of the earth, but it will run. Oracle suggests that Java developers to Java Web Start. OLDER SECURITY RESTRICTIONS ON JAVA IN BROWSER October 2014: Java 7 Update 71 and Java 8 Update 25: The applet above can be run with Java set to the default 'high' security level.
There will be assorted 'as you sure' type prompts both from Java and your web browser, but it will run. However, this site, javatester.org, needs to first be added to the 'Exception Site List' using the Java Control Panel. When, you have to prefix them with HTTP colon slash slash.
Java will object to HTTP but it will accept it. There is no HTTPS version of this site.
Also, if you add 'javatester.org' to the list, you must then go to 'javatester.org' as 'www.javatester.org' will fail. Because it is unsigned, this applet will not run with Java set to the 'very high' security level. January 2014: Java 7 Update 51 changed the default security rules for unsigned Java applets such as the one on this page. By default, Java no longer runs any unsigned applets. In the Java control panel, the default security level with Update 51 is 'High' which Oracle describes as 'Java applications identified by a certificate from a trusted authority will be allowed to run'. What this does not say is that unsigned applets will not run, at least not by default. If you get an error on this page that says 'Application blocked by security settings' this is probably why.
One way to run an unsigned applet is to lower the security level to 'Medium'. The other way is to add trusted websites to a new exception list that Oracle/Java maintains. This list is not to be confused with the list of trusted applets that Firefox or Chrome maintains. Yes, there are now three lists of applets that are naughty and nice. Java 7 Update 10 introduced a new checkbox that disables the use of Java in all browsers. By and large, this is a good thing, but there seems to be a failure to communicate between Java and many web browsers. As a result, all the browsers I have tried so far incorrectly report that Java is not installed when, in fact, it may be installed but this new security feature has been enabled.
As of Java 7 Update 71 and Java 8 Update 25 this is still true on Windows machines. Interestingly, if Java is disabled system-wide for use in web browsers (its on the Security) tab, both Chrome and Firefox will not even show the Java plug-in as being installed. On the flip side, Firefox 33 on Windows 7 reports that 'Browser has Java disabled' when Java is not installed. JAVA VERSION HISTORY ( has this too) JAVA 8 Release History Java 8 became the default on Windows on Oct 14, 2014. See the Java 8 is on Windows XP but should work. Oracle has a for Java 7 and 8 and for Java 8 I used to keep a release history here, but since Wikipedia has a, there is no need for me to continue doing my own, so I stopped maintaining it near the end of 2017.
You can run Java apps in two ways. The first is to run Java applets inside your Web browser with a plug-in. The second is to run native Java apps on your Mac. With the grave security concerns about Java these days, you may be thinking about how to remove or disable both of those Java systems completely from your Mac.
This how-to discusses procedures to uninstall/disable both the plug-in ahd the full Java system. It also looks at the differences between Java 6 and Java 7. Java Applets & Plug-ins Many Mac users retain the ability to run Java applets in their browser with a browser plug-in. Oracle now maintains that plug-in for Mac users. If you, because of recent security alerts, to Java 1.7 (or 'Java 7' in Java-speak) from Oracle, you'll find the plug-in in /Library/Internet Plug-ins.
The file is 'JavaAppletPlugin.plugin' and has the icon shown on the left. Also, when you installed Oracle's Java 7 browser plug-in, you installed a Preference Pane in System Preferences under 'Other.' Oracle's Java Preference Pane That Preference Pane manages the Oracle Java 7 browser plug-in for applets. It will auto-detect that a new version is available, but it will not do the installation.
You need to do that yourself under the Update tab. The Update Tab.
Available updates will be presented. Java 7 won't run in Chrome because Chrome is 32-bit and Java 7 is 64-bit. That leaves Safari and Firefox as the remaining major Mac browsers. Disabling the Browser Plug-in The best way to block the applet plug-in in /Library/Internet Plug-ins for both Safari and Firefox browsers is to disable it in the Java Preference Pane. Uncheck the box circled below and restart your browser. Disable Java for browsers.
By the way, you can verify which version is installed by looking at the Java tab and select 'View.' Verify the plug-in version. You can also dig down into the plug-in with the terminal app and extract the version number. /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java -version I showed this command not to be geeky but to reveal the structure of Oracle's Java applet plug-in.
![Check for updates mac office Check for updates mac office](http://www.bu.edu/tech/files/2012/05/MacLionUpdateJava1.png)
You can do that your self by using 'Show Package Contents' on the plug-in. Alternatively, to be really safe, you could delete the file: 'JavaAppletPlugin.plugin' in /Library/Internet Plug-ins.
But that would make it harder to easily re-enable the plug-in if you ever need it. Most of the security issues reported so far relate to this Java applet plug-in for browsers because it is the vehicle through which maliciously crafted websites work. Apple stopped providing its own Java browser plug-in in October, 2012 and a subsequent Software Update deleted it.
Oracle has assumed responsibility for the Java applet plug-in since then. Finally, you can test whether your Java plug-in has been disabled by going to Oracle's Java applet test page:. (Safari and Firefox may respond slightly differently.) Only if your plug-in is up to date, enabled and working properly, will you see this: Java browser plug-in up to date and working properly. Java Applications and Java 6 Depending on the history of your Mac, you may still have Java 1.6 (or 'Java 6' in Java-speak) installed for both development and native Java applications. Java 6 is a full-fledged development system that allows developers to write and you run full Java applications such as. Apple, not Oracle, still for OS X based on patches provided by Oracle. (However, Oracle seems ready to for non-corporate users.) The Two Different Java Systems This is what confuses many users.
They know they upgraded the applet plug-in for the browser, but the terminal command 'java -version' doesn't refer to the plug-in. It shows you the version of Apple's full Java 6 package for development and native apps. They may have different version numbers.
Snow Leopard Up through OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard., Apple provided Java 6 pre-installed, and they still maintain it. The latest version is. If you've kept your system up to date with Apple Software updates, and you open a terminal window and type 'java -version' (without the quotes), you should see this: Fig 5.
Getting the Java 6 version number. I'll get to how to disable that Java install further down. Lion & Mountain Lion If you bought a new Mac with Lion or Mountain Lion pre-installed, Java 6 is not there. It's an optional install nowadays. If you upgraded a Snow Leopard Mac to Lion and/or Mountain Lion, I believe that the install process suppressed Java 6 without a complete uninstall. From looking at my two Macs, it appears that the upgrade removed the directory/folder: /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines.
That will stop any Java application cold in is tracks from running. On such a Mac, if you enter 'java -version' you'll get a prompt inviting you to install Java 6, like this: Fig 6. Invitation to install Java 6 Or perhaps you installed Java 6 in order to run an older version of GoToMeeting. Or an Adobe installer may have done it. After a Java 6 installation, there is a large collection of Java files is deeply embedded into OS X, and, unlike the simple plug-in for the browser, it's not easy to uninstall all those files. And no formal uninstaller exists. Matthew Dornquast of Code42 Software told me that the only SAFE way to remove all vestiges of Java 6 is to conduct a clean install of 10.8.
And from then on, say 'no' if ever asked to install Java. Is Java 6 Installed? To see if Java 6 is installed, on the command line, enter, after the prompt: java -version If you see the invitation to install Java 6, shown in Fig. 6, you don't have an operational Java system for applications. (Recommended response: 'Not now.'
) If you see a result like I showed in Fig 5, then it should be Java 1.6.043 (as of this writing.) Uninstalling Java 6 and forum commenters have suggested a few tricky ways, from the command line, to partially uninstall Java 6 by deleting certain directories or files. There are several serious problems with deleting specific Java 6 files:. Java 6 isn't really, completely uninstalled. Some applications or suites, for example from Adobe, depend on Java being on the Mac in that form. If you munge about, deleting key Java files, all kinds of unexplainable things might happen down the road. It's hard to re-enable Java for full applications if you need it unless you have very accurate notes on those files you deleted (or renamed). Some of those examples use the diabolically dangerous 'rm -rf' shell command, which if misunderstood and mistyped or misused, could damage your Mac and require you to reinstall OS X.
The best advice I have is to keep your Java 6 up to date and secure using the OS X Software Update function. After a period of inattention, Apple is being much more aggressive in keeping Java 6 up to date and secure. At some point in the future, you'll buy a new Mac with OS X 10.8 or 10.9 installed, and your Mac will be 100 percent free of Java 6. For now, if you're concerned about native Java apps that access websites, just don't run them. Note that on a Mac without Java 6, you could still install Oracle's browser plug-in as described above. Java Applications and Java 7 JDK If you, because of security alerts, somewhere along the line, installed, then entering the command 'java -version' will reflect that Oracle's Java 7 has been installed for development. However, Apple's Java 6 is not deleted, (they can co-exist) and as I wrote here, ': More importantly, unless you know what you're doing with Java development, installing Java 7 JDK could break any stand-alone Java 6 apps you may have been using that depend on knowing where to find Java 6.
(Most Java apps for the Mac have been written in Java 6). The bottom line: don't install the (Java 7) JDK from Oracle unless you're an expert user.' Summary It is very difficult to simply disable and re-enable Java 6, let alone delete it entirely, without Unix experience. Expert users may elect to delete key files to prevent Java 6 apps from ever running, but it's not a great idea for the average user without Unix and command line experience. It's better to be aware if you're running a native Java app, built for Java 6, and then keep Java 6 updated (with Software Update in OS X).
Otherwise, find an alternative non-Java solution. Remember, you're not vulnerable if you run a native Java 6 app, say, a text editor like, that doesn't visit websites like a browser plug-in is designed to do. If you really, really want to completely eradicate Java 6 from your Mac, which isn't really necessary, you'll need to do a clean install of Lion or Mountain Lion. There are security issues with Java 6 on 10.5 Leopard that will never be fixed.