Title: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: chaos_crystal on October 21, 2013, 08:04:01 PM Hey All! After all the trouble and the scare about Java last year, I was one of the millions who disabled it / took it off my puter (been a long time, can't remember if it's still on my HD or not). I might be interested in giving JWildfire a go, just to see what I can do with it...I'm an experimenter! Trouble is, I'm still very leery of Java...I read where it is OK now but there is still a risk...which IMO means it is not really OK. Any thoughts, guys???
Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Sockratease on October 21, 2013, 08:17:23 PM There never was any risk in java on an offline computer.
The risk is in allowing websites to run java scripts. So a java app is perfectly safe, especially if the web is not connected while running it O0 Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: marius on October 21, 2013, 08:45:35 PM There never was any risk in java on an offline computer. The risk is in allowing websites to run java scripts. So a java app is perfectly safe, especially if the web is not connected while running it O0 I hope whichever marketing goon named javascript enjoys the confusion and waste of lives that ensued. :fiery: In a modern browser, running javascript is quite alright. Standalone java applications are quite alright, with the caveat you install them from a trusted source. Running any browser with the java plugin ('webstart') open for all sites is a sure way to get infected. Anyone who is developing java applets for client-side, in-browser computing this day and age has not gotten the memo that that platform is dead. Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Sockratease on October 21, 2013, 10:27:34 PM ...Anyone who is developing java applets for client-side, in-browser computing this day and age has not gotten the memo that that platform is dead. Rumours of it's death must have been greatly exaggerated then! Have you seen the images coming out of JWildfire? Amazing stuff for a dead program!! It may be getting less use, but it's far from dead. Is there a newer way to write cross platform applications now? If so, *I* missed that memo :evil1: Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: marius on October 21, 2013, 10:42:27 PM Rumours of it's death must have been greatly exaggerated then! Have you seen the images coming out of JWildfire? Amazing stuff for a dead program!! It may be getting less use, but it's far from dead. Is there a newer way to write cross platform applications now? If so, *I* missed that memo :evil1: JWildfire is a java application, no? Not an in-browser applet. The latter is playing w/ fire :tongue1: Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Sockratease on October 21, 2013, 10:55:29 PM JWildfire is a java application, no? Not an in-browser applet. The latter is playing w/ fire :tongue1: Yes, it is not an in-browser thingy. I only mentioned it because the original post specifically mentioned using JWildfire and it's safety. I tried to be clear, but my brain is made entirely out of wood, and I think the termites may be causing problems... :gum: Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: cKleinhuis on October 21, 2013, 11:08:33 PM ok, @chaoscchrystal, it is perfectly fine if you just launch a dedicated application - like jwildfire - the problem with java and its security risks
is when you have an active browser plugin, and a website has some bad code when you load that page, it can run java code, the most modern browser spit out at least a warning about java when it is active, so, feel free to download java on your computer, but make sure any plugin that might get automatically installed is switched of! you might use this link to test your browser against it, the following page should complain about no java installed when clicking on the "check java version" button ;) http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: chaos_crystal on October 22, 2013, 01:35:26 AM Sock, you make me laugh out loud ;D
So I'm seeing this here, and I could probably just download the Windows Offline version, yes? http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp I looked in my change/remove hardware area and my former Java (the coffecup one) was removed, some while back. As for active browser plugins, my brain must be made of termite-infested wood, too, I'm not quite sure what that means, unless it's like those little apps like Anfy which I don't think anyone uses anymore anyway...? That ran on a script which was pretty easy to edit, even for a dummy like me...I had flowing water and cool stuff like that... I just looked up java webstart and I see what that means... That wouldn't be included with an offline version, though? Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: blob on October 22, 2013, 02:58:52 AM Java webstart and Java browser plugins are different things:
Java browser plugins run Java applets embedded in web pages within a web browser. Java webstart is running online java code through executing a jnlp file on your computer. Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: chaos_crystal on October 22, 2013, 07:26:23 AM Okay, the latest version of Oracle Java is installed. It didn't ask me about webstart or any addons. I went to the java dialog box and disabled it so that it won't be running in my browser. The only time I would wish to enable it would be for using JWildfire.
Is this the correct approach? I want to be certain I'm doing everything right and I'm safe. I suppose the absolute safest way to install Java and JWildfire would be to put them on my laptop, which has never (believe it or not) had any connection to the internet... Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: blob on October 22, 2013, 09:42:41 AM If you want to make absolutely sure the browser plugins will never work then delete all occurrences of:
npjp2.dll npoji610.dll npjpi170_45.dll jp2iexp.dll If you want to make absolutely sure java webstart will never work then delete all occurrences of: javaws.exe Of course any plain offline java program (as exe or executable jar) can still go online after that like any Windows program can so make sure you run a good firewall with outbound filtering set to deny network access to any program but those you specifically allow. And, between you and me, Java (even with browser plugins enabled) is a very minor security risk IMO compared to going online with Internet Explorer (or any program which use its runtimes such as Outlook email client or any IE based third-party browser), this by deliberate design from your "friends" at Microsoft... All this only if you're a Windows user of course. Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Roquen on October 22, 2013, 02:16:04 PM PDFs.
Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Nahee_Enterprises on October 22, 2013, 02:29:55 PM If you want to make absolutely sure the browser plugins will never work then delete all occurrences of: npjp2.dll npoji610.dll npjpi170_45.dll jp2iexp.dll If you want to make absolutely sure java webstart will never work then delete all occurrences of: javaws.exe Of course any plain offline java program (as exe or executable jar) can still go online after that like any Windows program can so make sure you run a good firewall with outbound filtering set to deny network access to any program but those you specifically allow. And, between you and me, Java (even with browser plugins enabled) is a very minor security risk IMO compared to going online with Internet Explorer (or any program which use its runtimes such as Outlook email client or any IE based third-party browser), this by deliberate design from your "friends" at Microsoft... All this only if you're a Windows user of course. Very good advice, especially the portion about using MS-IE and MS-Outlook. A User is more likely to get infected by running all of that MS crap!!! :D Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: chaos_crystal on October 22, 2013, 03:50:07 PM :D Ohh, thank you, guys, for all the great advice!! And I thought I was asking a truly termite-infested question... I did disable Java with that little tick box to prevent it going online. But now I can do a lot of other things to further protect myself. :angel1:
And noooo, I am a staunch Firefox user, no more IE for me. At one time I used Incredimail also, it's a lot like Outlook...I quit using it b/c it eats up a lot of hard drive space... I hardly ever have any problems when my antivirus program runs...it's a shock if I DO have anything bad in there... Any more questions, I'll be back around....thanks again Title: Re: Is JAVA safe to use now? Post by: Mrz00m on December 10, 2013, 11:39:25 PM well, i have heard, that every single java applet in existence was attacked by a virus that writes itself from the person running the applet remotely, back into the applet, and then it infects every other person, and that it has very fast infected 40 million servers holding java applets. it's a trojan horse and they can see through your webcam and have keyloggers. only joking. lol well i think it's safe on an edu website. |