How-to: Disable and uninstall Java 7
If you have not already read, The Department of Homeland Security is urging computer users to disable or uninstall the Java programming language because of a serious security vulnerability that could make users vulnerable to identity theft or allow their computers to be exploited by “botnets” that could crash networks or be used to attack web sites. The one thing that most articles have failed to do is explain exactly how to disable or uninstall Java 7 so that is precisely what we will do in this article.
Disable Java 7
The first thing that we are going to ask you to do is have you open up the Control Panel. If you’re new to this game, click on the Start button or press the Windows key on your keyboard to open up the Start Menu then click on Control Panel.
Look for the Java icon (shown below) and click on it.
That will open up the Java Control Panel (shown below).
Click on the Advanced tab, to the far right, then click on the plus sign next to Java Plug-in and un-check the box that says Enable the next-genereation Java Plug-in (requires browser restart). This will disable Java in your default browser.
Internet Explorer 8,9, and 10
Go to the “Tools” menu and select “Manage Add-ons.” Go to the left of the window that pops up and in the drop-down box below the heading “Show:” select “All Add-ons.” Scroll down the list on the right of the window until you find a subheading under the category “Group” that reads “Oracle America, Inc.” Select each item and disable it with the “Disable” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the window. Restart your browser.
Chrome
Type “chrome://plugins” into your address bar. This will bring up a new tab. Find the item on the list that reads just plain “Java” and click below it where it says “Disable” in blue. Restart your browser.
Firefox
Go to the “Tools” menu and select “Add-ons” or hit ctrl, shift, and the letter ‘a’ simultaneously. Select “Plug-ins” on the left-hand side of the new tab that shows up. Scroll the list on the right-hand side of the screen until you find an item that reads “Java (TM) Platform [somethingsomethingsomething].” Click the “Disable” button on the right. Restart your browser.
Safari
Choose “Safari” and then “Preferences” on the taskbar or hit control and comma simultaneously (⌘-,). Click “Security” on the top row of the new window. Uncheck the box that reads “Enable Java” if checked. Restart your browser.
Uninstall Java 7
Open up the Control Panel as if you were going to disable Java, but instead we’re going to click on the link that says Programs and Features. Find the program named Java 7 then right-click on it and left-click Uninstall. Follow the prompts to remove Java 7 and that’s it! If you have problems then please do not hesitate to contact us for help.
