Disable Java In Your Browser

Java’s going through a pretty tough time at the moment, it seems that hardly a week goes by without there being some new Java based exploit being announced, with the usual call from security researchers and tech gurus  to either uninstall Java completely or failing that, at least disable its use in the browser.

We’ve advised our customers and Facebook / Twitter followers for some months now to disable Java in their browsers, but we never had a tutorial on our website telling you exactly how to do this, until now.

Before we start though, we must just clarify that what we are talking about here is Java NOT Javascript, many websites use Javascript to provide a level of interactivity, and it’s use is generally regarded to be safe.

This tutorial covers disabling Java in the major Microsoft Windows based browsers, users of other Operating Systems will need to seek specific instructions for their set-up elsewhere.

Internet Explorer 7

  • Click the ‘Tools‘ button and then select ‘Internet Options‘.
  • Select the ‘Advanced‘ tab.
  • Scroll down to the ‘Java (Sun) category‘.
  • Uncheck the box to disable Java.
  • Restart the browser

Internet Explorer 8,9,10

  • Go to the ‘Tools’ menu and select ‘Manage Add-ons’
  • In the windows that pops up, on the left hand side in the drop down box below the head ‘Show‘, select ‘All Add-ons
  • In the list on the right of the window, scroll down until you find a subheading under the category ‘Group‘ that reads ‘Oracle America, Inc
  • Select each item and disable it using the disable button in the right hand corner.
  • Restart the browser.

Google Chrome

  • Type chrome://plugins 
  • On the list of option, scroll down to the entry that reads ‘Java’, below it click the blue text labelled ‘Disable’
  • Re-start the browser.

Firefox

  • Go to the ‘Tools‘ menu and click ‘Add-ons
  • Click ‘Plug-ins‘ on the left hand side of tab.
  • Scroll through the list on the right until you see an entry that says ‘Java (TM) Platform [version number]
  • Click the ‘Disable‘ button on the right.
  • Restart the browser.

Safari

  • Click on ‘Safari’ and select ‘Preferences’ on the taskbar.
  • Select ‘Security’ from the top row of the new window.
  • Make sure the box that reads ‘Enable Java’ is not ticked.
  • Restart the browser.

If you want to be extra sure you are safe then use the Operating Systems Control Panel to completely un-install Java entirely.